There is dearth of research in happiness among Africans, because of no indigenous scale among the plethora of scales used in measuring happiness. Consequently, an indigenous happiness scale was conceived using a three stage method (stage 1 = 48, stage 2 = 408, stage 3 = 1468 participants). A sequential mixed method approach and cross sectional…

Reviews six instruments developed to assess the psychological processes associated with experiences of racism among African Americans. Recommendations for modifications, revisions, and additional reliability and validity evidence are presented for each of these relatively new measures. (SLD)

Describes the development and validation of a measure of the stress experienced by African Americans as a result of daily encounters with racism and discrimination. The scale has adequate indexes of internal consistency and fair-to-adequate estimates of test-retest stability. Several other factors also indicated the measure's reliability. (RJM)

The implications of standardized testing for minority students are explored. Test terminology is described in terms of objectivity, standardization, reliability, and validity. Primarily, however, the paper reviews the objectivity of standardized testing, that is, of those tests which are either norm-referenced or criterion-referenced. The use of…

This study, using the Vocational Preference Inventory and the Self-Directed Search, explored the concurrent validity of Holland's theory for employed college-degreed Black women. The findings support the validity of Holland's theory for this population. (Author)

The STAIC (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children) was administered to 1,522 third and fourth grade Black disadvantaged children from a large metropolitan school district. (Author)

Tested the Life Satisfaction Index-A for validity and reliability using a sample of 240 Black elderly. The study failed to support the existence of five dimensions that were supposed to form the life satisfaction scale, but the scale was highly reliable in measuring life satisfaction among Black elderly. (Author/JAC)

The Condom Attitude Scale by W.P. Saco and others (1991) was modified for use with adolescents. Four studies involving 595 African American and 52 white adolescents demonstrate acceptable internal consistency, a stable factor structure, and criterion and convergent validity with other measures conceptually related to condom use attitudes. (SLD)

The reliability and validity of the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB), a measure designed to tap behaviors pertaining to the provision of social support, were studied. Data were analyzed on a pre-test sample of 100 adults from a community-based, epidemiologic study of 1,008 black adults in Virginia. Findings are presented on the…

Argues that from a black perspective, the real concern is not merely that of defining intelligence, about which there is lacking a consensus among psychologists, but one which challenges the basic scientific considerations of validity, reliability, and standardization of intelligence tests. (Author/JM)

The relationship between students' scores on a verbal meaning test and their degrees of confidence in item responses was investigated. Subjects were black undergraduate students and they were administered a verbal meaning test by following a confidence testing procedure. (Author/BJG)

The purpose of this study was to determine if the attitudes of white adults attending training at the National 4-H Foundation were more negative toward blacks than they were toward whites and to determine if the Situational Attitude Scale (SAS) was a valid and reliable tool for measuring the attitudes of white adults toward blacks. The SAS is a…

A Self Concept Target Game (SCTG) which was designed to measure the level of aspiration of second or third grade children who had been exposed to at least two years of the Responsive Model Follow Through (RMFT) Program, and the field testing of the game are described in this report. The game is played by throwing and pushing a bean bag along a…

This paper is concerned with the accusations made by such groups as the Association of Black Psychologists in their call for a moratorium on testing, that standardized tests are biased. A biased test measures one trait in one group of people but a different trait in a second group. Evidence about the amount of bias in tests is thin. Bias must be…

This paper grew out of a presentation made as part of a panel discussion on the Bakke case, and is second in a series of Institute for the Study of Educational Policy documents on important educational issues and problems. Many of the factors that impact test performance or scores are examined. The primary thesis of the paper is that it is…