Numerous studies have shown that spreadsheets used in companies often have errors which may affect the quality of the decisions made with these tools. Many businesses are unaware or choose to ignore the risks associated with spreadsheet use. The intent of this study was to learn more about the characteristics of spreadsheet end user developers,…

Objective: To examine the effects of patient adherence on outcome from exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) therapy in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: Thirty adults with OCD were randomized to EX/RP (n = 15) or EX/RP augmented by motivational interviewing strategies (n = 15). Both treatments included 3 introductory…

Evidence for shared heritable influences across domains of substance use suggests that some genetic variants influence broad risk for externalizing behaviors. Theories of externalizing psychopathology also suggest that genetic liability for substance use manifests as temperamental risk factors, particularly those related to behavioral…

Drawing on a symbolic-interaction perspective and a compensation model, the processes linking mother- and father-adolescent relationship qualities, deviant peer affiliations, and adolescents' sexual intentions were investigated for 246 Mexican-origin youths born in the United States and in Mexico using multiple-group structural equation models.…

Early social-emotional development occurs in the context of parenting, particularly via processes such as maternal emotion socialization and parent-child interactions. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that maternal contingent responsiveness partially mediated the relationship between maternal emotion socialization of toddlers (N…

Studies of brain development suggest that the increase in risk taking observed during adolescence may be due to insufficient prefrontal executive function compared to a more rapidly developing subcortical motivation system. We examined executive function as assessed by working memory ability in a community sample of youth (n = 387, ages 10 to 12…

The Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS) is the first nationwide birth cohort database in Asia designed to establish national norms of children's development. Several challenges during database development and data analysis were identified. Challenges include sampling methods, instrument development and statistical approach to missing data. The…

Purpose: Social software usage is growing at an exponential rate among the present generation of students. Yet, there is paucity of empirical study to understand the determinant of its use in the present setting of this study. This study, therefore, seeks to investigate factors that predict students' attitudes and intentions to use this…

This study tested the effects of two theory-based interventions to increase fruit and vegetable intake. Hypothesized intervention mediators included self-efficacy (SE), social support (SS), autonomous motivation (AM), and controlled motivation (CM). At baseline, 1,021 African American adults were recruited from 16 churches randomized to one…

This study analyzes the interplay of four cognitive abilities--reasoning, divergent thinking, mental speed, and short-term memory--and their impact on academic achievement in school in a sample of adolescents in grades seven to 10 (N = 1135). Based on information processing approaches to intelligence, we tested a mediation hypothesis, which states…

In this study, the authors attempted to examine the roles of trait autonomy, trait self-efficacy, important goal-related task engagement and gender in predicting whether undergraduate university students are willing to set difficult goals. One hundred and thirty-six undergraduate communications students from the North-Eastern USA completed an…

Purpose: This study attempted to determine the influence of exemplary leadership preparation on what principals learn about leadership, their use of effective leadership practices, and how their practices influence school improvement and the school's learning climate. The authors also investigated how the frequency of effective leadership…

This longitudinal panel study investigated predictors and outcomes of active engagement in career preparation among 349 Swiss adolescents from the beginning to the end of eighth grade. Latent variable structural equation modeling was applied. The results showed that engagement in terms of self- and environmental-exploration and active career…

Longitudinal associations among different types of organized activity involvement, problem peer associations, and cigarette smoking were examined in a sample of 1040 adolescents (mean age = 15.62 at baseline, 16.89 at 15-month assessment, 17.59 at 24 months) enriched for smoking experimentation (83% had tried smoking). A structural equation model…

Using structural equation modeling to investigate the multiple pathways of sleeping position and children's early development at six-, eighteen- and thirty-six-month children, with parental demographics and child health status controlled. The participants consisted of 1783 six-month children, who were assessed using the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study…