With the proliferation of suicide prevention centers in the United States, the task of rapidly and effectively assessing an individual caller's suicide potential has become an important research problem. However, the social science researcher is often confronted with an ethical problem when the results of his predictive equations can be used to…

This paper describes the self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM) which suggests that much social behavior can be understood by assuming that persons are motivated to maintain a positive self-evaluation. The two processes by which one's social circumstances may affect self-evaluation, i.e., reflection and comparison, are described. The relationship…

This report reviews five studies dealing with drug abuse and adolescence and presents an overview of the social changes which have contributed to the increased use of marijuana and other illicit drugs. The importance of the longitudinal study as a research tool is emphasized in describing the research projects that deal with the epidemiology of…

Fully addressing most problems clients bring to therapy usually requires more than one session. Some student therapists seem to be more capable than others of engaging clients and promoting more visits when warranted. To discover whether graduate admissions information can predict a psychologist-trainee's ability to readily engage clients, data…

The Rasch item analysis model is supposed to yield norm-free estimates of ability and easiness values, but there are several possible interpretations of the nature and extent of such norm-freeness. One such interpretation was that to involve the scores of one single experimental group of testees which were embedded in four differently skewed…

The purpose of this study was to determine which personality traits as measured by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) are predictive of academic achievement in urban college freshmen of the Federal City College. The measures of achievement were grade point average (GPA) and the Comparative Guidance and Placement Program (CGPP) test…

This study is a cross-section regression analysis of male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets. Data for the study were obtained from the 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity. A prime objective of this dissertation is to determine how much of the observed male-female wage differential can be attributed to the effects of discrimination…

Criteria and methods for developing a taxonomy for different situational categories are presented. (CK)

Procedures for early identification of delinquency-prone youth in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, are described in this report of a 1961-1972 study designed to delineate the problems of aggressive and disruptive classroom behavior as related to delinquency. Data collection began in 1961, when each 3rd-, 6th-, and 9th-grade teacher in Eau Claire…

For a range of extrinsic and intrinsic value orientations, values held by students at entrance to college are the best predictors of values three years later. It is shown that important secondary predictors include sex (female), and characteristics of the student's major department (academic discipline and student/faculty social relationships).…

Ten self concept measures and two achievement tests were examined for fourth and sixth grade Mexican-Americans, Caucasians, Blacks, Vietnamese, other Asian, and pupils of mixed ethnicity. Pupil self-update of self concept revealed negligible relationships with teacher ratings of achievement, although teacher observations of pupil self concept…

Investigation of the extent to which various factors were associated with observed developmental gains in developmentally-delayed young children (N=83) revealed that potential predictors of overall child progress included test score derivatives, number of assessments and home visits, mother's age, child's age at initial testing, and medical risk…

Describes study that investigated the effects of well-designed computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus poorly designed CAI on college students' computing behavior, quality of prewriting, and attitudes toward the instruction. Comparisons are made with paper versions of both CAI displays, and guidelines for CAI design are presented. (38…

Examines the importance of levels of questioning and types of feedback in designing courseware for computer-based education. Test results are analyzed for four groups of high school students who completed different versions of a computer-based science lesson, and recommendations for future research are given. (Author/LRW)

Surveyed elementary school teachers (N=162) to examine the relations between teacher perceptions of discipline, teacher education, teacher experience, student social class, student ethnicity, and student grade level. In general, more experienced and educated teachers preferred confronting students about misbehavior, while less educated teachers…