Describes demonstration by an interdisciplinary geriatric evaluation team that a newly described syndrome of hysterical pseudodementia in elderly patients often originates in developmental phenomena rather than in basic personality disturbances. Discusses team members' observations of clinical behavior which frequently differed from results of…

Study determines that solutions derived by multiple group analysis and item-total correlation analysis were generally most interpretable from a psychological perspective. It was concluded that their application to test construction is preferred over Procrustean or confirmatory maximum likelihood approaches. (RB)

Schizophrenic inpatients who were ready for discharge completed the Influential Relationships Questionnaire, measuring their perceptions of three characteristic attitudes (care, overprotection, and criticism) demonstrated by two influential people in the patients' lives. Readmitted patients rated the second-most influential person higher on the…

Administered the Eckblad and Chapman (1983) Magical Ideation Scale to groups of paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics and control subjects. Schizophrenics scored significantly higher than nonschizophrenic patients (mainly cases of affective disorder) and normal control subjects. Discusses theoretical and prognostic utility of this finding.…

Compared a sample of mothers of children with cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, myelodysplasia, and multiple physical handicaps with a probability sample of mothers of children free of disabilities on their attitudes toward the availability of legal abortion. The responses were not distinguishable for the two groups, nor was the specific disability…

Compared scores of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, psychiatric patients who did not meet PTSD criteria, and normals on the Keane et al PTSD scale and Penk Combat Scales for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Results confirmed the validities of the PTSO scale and, to a lesser degree, Penk Combat Intensity Scales as…

Examined the ability of the Pain Assesment Index, determined from presurgery Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scores, to predict outcome subsequent to lumbar laminectomy and discectomy. The PAI was found to have good ability to identify patients who were doing well after surgery, but low power in predicting which patients would have…

Diagnostic hit rates for the Diagnostic Inventory of Personality and Symptoms were compared to diagnosis by psychiatrists of the same patients. The Probability Scale employing Bayesian concepts and base rates correctly classified 70% of the patients and was more accurate by far than the other two methods used. (Author/ABB)

The 1985 edition of the American Psychological Association's "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" has greatly expanded its coverage of the testing of handicapped students. Recent surveys of practitioners' knowledge of basic testing and measurement concepts suggest the need for extensive in-service training if these…

On the occasion of Psychometrika's fiftieth anniversary, the past twenty-five years' developments in mental test theory are reviewed. Psychometrika articles treating topics in test theory are listed in a bibliography. (Author/LMO)

Describes vocational maturity and assists counselors in identifying what the various career maturity instruments measure. Discusses task variable measures, intervening variable measures, response variable measures, and methods of choosing an instrument. (JAC)

Psychological assessment, a subspecialty of psychology has served as one of the earliest proving grounds of automated technology. This Special Series highlights some of the advances in computerized psychological assessment methods and discusses some of the lingering issues and contemporary problems with automated psychological assessment…

Administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to parents (N=342) of children seen for psychiatric services at the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute during the 1970s. Results suggested a parent population in which mothers were suffering considerably more psychological distress or psychopathology than fathers during the 1975-79…

Examines problems and concerns of cross cultural counseling and psychotherapy. Raises specific questions concerning research designs and approaches, differences in cosmology, epistemology, differences in nosology, and problems of evaluation or testing. (JAC)

Assessed the attitudes of 59 maternity patients toward the use of a computer for psychological testing. Results showed patients were almost unanimous in finding the computer acceptable and easy to use, and most would be willing to use the computer again. (JAC)