Describes a short-form assessment scale for drug involvement, providing information about its administration, scoring, and interpretation. Discusses the initial research conducted to validate the instrument and provides reliability data. Also details the development of a clinical cutting score that will help practitioners evaluate the significance…

Summarizes the benefits of computerized assessment and provides a review of some practical issues concerning measurement, item and examinee characteristics, hardware, and software. Adequate measures of reliability and validity have been established for many computer-based tests, and the benefits of computer testing have been realized in applied…

Developed a scale for detecting random responses on the Multidimensional Pain Inventory using 95 undergraduates, 34 chronic pain patients, and 115 health-care professionals. A variable response scale was developed that discriminated accurately between valid and random profiles in two cross-validation samples, predicting random profiles with 90%…

Five eating reinforcement expectancies and one dieting--thinness reinforcement expectancy were identified and their factor structure replicated on an independent sample of 557 women. Expectancies for negative reinforcement from eating characterized bulimia but not anorexia and were correlated with indexes of restraint plus disinhibition in a…

Analysis of results of the Skills Confidence Inventory completed by 1147 employed adults and 706 college students revealed minimal gender differences in self-efficacy within 21 occupations and 6 Holland job families. (SK)

Both versions of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered to 32 children, ages 3- to 28-months. Significant differences were noted between scores. Children below 12 months of age displayed larger discrepancies than the older children. Information is important for children evaluated longitudinally since they likely will score lower…

A study examined the validity of the Screening Tool for Autism in Two-Year-Olds (STAT) as a stage 2 screening instrument in a clinic-based sample of two-year-olds with autism (n=12) and with nonautistic developmental disorders (n=21). Results provide preliminary support for the utility of the STAT as an early screening of autism. (Contains…

Examines the concurrent validity of the General Ability Measure for Adults (GAMA) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III). A comparison of the sample's mean scores indicates similar GAMA and WAIS-III Performance IQ scores. In contrast, the sample's mean GAMA IQ score was significantly lower than the sample's mean Full…

Seeks to validate the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) College Maladjustment scale (Mt) by comparing it with the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). Significant negative correlations existed between the Mt scale and SACQ scores, indicating that the Mt scale measures maladjustment, especially emotional…

Assesses the psychometric properties of the Self-Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II) with a middle school sample comprising 291 students. Results reveal acceptable internal consistency and four-week stability coefficients for all domain scores and the total score of the instrument. Results of confirmatory factor analyses support the convergent…

One hundred middle school students completed four measures of mathematics skills (involving basic facts and estimation) twice in one week. Criterion measures included school grades, standardized test scores, and teacher ratings. Correlation and regression analyses indicated the measures are reliable and possess acceptable levels of criterion…

The Student Evaluation of Educational Quality Questionnaire (SEEQ) is one of the most thoroughly developed and widely used student feedback questionnaires in the United States with a robust factor structure, excellent reliability, and reasonable validity. This study examined use of the SEEQ with 1,297 students in nine institutions in the United…

To test the validity of an achievement test, 77 Virginia business computer applications students answered items on vocabulary, access software, data/text entry, editing, and formatting. Teachers said that only 45% of the items were being taught; 59 of 60 word processing items were deemed instructionally valid. (SK)

Female students (177 high school, 394 undergraduate, 354 graduate) completed the Attitudes toward Multiple Role Planning scales. Reliability of four of five scales was demonstrated; confirmatory factor analyses supported a four-factor model. Validity analyses confirmed hypothesized differences in role planning based on role involvement and…

Focuses on theoretical and practical difficulties in constructing and evaluating a measure of the home environment of a diversity of families. Describes limitations of theory to guide developmental indicator selection and ways to deal with these limitations. Discusses rationale for selecting criteria for judging test validity and use of cause…