Background: A priori assumptions about specific behavior in test items can be used to process log data in a rule-based fashion to identify the behavior of interest. In this study, we demonstrate such a top-down approach and created a process indicator to represent what type of information processing (flimsy, breadth-first, satisficing, sampling,…

The effect of firearm availability on suicide may differ among age groups. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between suicide rates and household firearm ownership for four age groups in the nine census regions from 1979 to 1994, adjusting for regional divorce rates, education, unemployment, and urbanity. (BF)

Children were given an opportunity to share a valuable commodity with an attractive or unattractive peer. Moments later, the peer appeared to fall from a chair. Results indicated older children shared more of their resources; sharing and responses to the emergency were positively correlated with empathic test scores. (Author/RC)

A sample of 5,607 severely/profoundly mentally retarded children under 18 years was studied to determine predictor variables in out-of-home placements. Examined were child age, maladaptive/adaptive behavior, and presence of multiple handicaps. Results suggest that variables other than child characteristics should be included in analyses of…

Younger (N=48) and older (N=48) males participated in a vocabulary task involving varying degrees of risk under neutral, supportive, and challenging instructions. Results indicated older adults were more cautious, selected tasks with higher probabilities of success, and were less likely to raise their level of aspiration following success. (Author)

The age-status system in adulthood was investigated, using a 58-item instrument which divided adulthood subjectively into three periods: normative expectations for various adulthood developmental tasks (marriage, parenthood, employment, retirement, etc.); the lower age constraints ("too young") for these behaviors. In addition, 22 items regarding…

The 26,316 patients who entered drug therapy programs participating in the DARP from June, 1971, to March, 1973, and who had used drugs for at least two years were grouped into three drug use categories. Differences were observed among these three groups regarding the first drug used daily and the age at first drug use. (Author)

In agreement with previous findings, boys and girls were seen to behave differently on the road. The difference was most obvious when the criteria for classification of behaviour were applied. More boys than girls acted unpredictably and were classified as unsafe.' (Author/CB)

A study of women's information-seeking behavior with regard to the purchase of cosmetics was conducted to determine the effects on their behavior of six individual variables (ambiguity about cosmetic products, price consciousness, income, amount of money spent on cosmetics, age, and education) and six social variables (perceived social utility of…

Derived a representative national nursing home admissions cohort with 1977 survey data. Found that high proportions of admissions have short lengths of stay and are discharged within the same calendar year. (Author/RC)

Analysis of interactions during 55 videotaped interviews of high-risk sex abuse cases found no support for the assumption that a credible disclosure of abuse must include the display of emotion by the child. Some behavioral differences between preschool and school-age children were found, but no gender differences. (Author/DB)

The most common approach to self-management research has been to apply it to a specific target behavior, without attending to the generalizability of changes to other facets of one's life. A procedure for measuring self-management effectiveness under real world conditions was developed which emphasized the successful application of self-change…

In this article, Malcolm Watson, Kurt Fischer, Jasmina Burdzovic Andreas, and Kevin Smith describe and compare two approaches to assessing risk factors that lead to aggression in children. The first, the severe risks approach, focuses on how risk factors form a pathway that leads to aggressive behavior. Within this approach, an inhibited…

Observers identified four types of behavior in junior high school students: good, outgoing, rebellious, and withdrawn. Results were compared with behavior patterns found in first-grade students, and similar findings emerged. Questions are raised about how student roles are established and whether teaching affects them. (Authors/PP)