The prevalence of epilepsy was correlated with the severity and type of encephalopathy of 1,023 individuals with mental retardation. A total of 326 individuals were diagnosed with epilepsy. Results indicated a low percentage of epilepsy in chromosomic-genetic and young adult encephalopathies and a high prevalence when the neurodeficit was…

Performed secondary analysis of data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, involving 12,686 subjects, to examine patterns of alcohol and cocaine abuse. Found joint alcohol and cocaine abusers demonstrated highest levels of previous 30-day and lifetime drug use, high levels of delinquent activity, and highest rates of unemployment and marital…

Presents results of simulations that were conducted to test the effects of errors in estimation of individual term probabilities on the performance of a probabilistic information retrieval (PIR) system. Assigning index terms to documents is described; an information retrieval system called Helpnet is explained; and relevance, ranking, and…

Findings suggest that academic achievement is enhanced by student participation in extracurricular activities and raise questions about the rationale behind rules excluding academically marginal students from participation in extracurricular and cocurricular activities. (Author/IAH)

The relationship between humor and the physiological trait cardiorespiratory after pulse (CAP) was studied for 98 exercise clinic subjects. No significant correlation was found between the composite humor score and CAP, but some relationships were found with humor, CAP, marital status, and age. (SLD)

Longitudinal studies of personality traits and intelligence have used an exponential function to relate magnitudes of correlations between occasions to the time interval. This exponential function is shown to be equivalent to a quasisimplex model of a stationary process with constant reliability. (SLD)

A critical evaluation of the use of stochastic independence in psychological research is provided, considering (1) confirming the null hypothesis; (2) power of the statistical test; (3) Simpson's paradox; and (4) between-subjects and within-subject correlations. The importance of formal models in studying (in)dependence is emphasized. (SLD)

A reparameterization is formulated that yields estimates of scale-invariant parameters in recursive path models with latent variables, and (asymptotically) correct standard errors, without the use of constrained optimization. The method is based on the logical structure of the reticular action model. (Author)

The assertion by J. Matson (1990) that the Teacher Version of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) can also be used with parents was studied with parents and teachers of 179 children. The parent-completed MESSY does not show a particularly stable factor structure and is not highly related to teacher reports. (SLD)

The convergent validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) (Morey, 1991) was examined with 80 referrals in a correctional facility. Comparison of PAI results with those from four other measures reveals moderate to good convergent validity for screening for feigned profiles, clinical correlates of common disorders, and evaluating…

Discusses a procedure for testing the equivalence among different item response formats used in personality and attitude measurement. The procedure is based on the assumption that latent response variables underlie the observed item responses. It uses a nested series of confirmatory factor analysis models based on K. Joreskog's (1971) method for…

Drawing on nursing home records, examines the relationship between vision impairment and disruptive behaviors among nursing home residents (N=89). Results indicate that vision status is a significant independent contributor to disruptive behaviors among long-term care residents. Findings show vision to be an important comorbid impairment in…

Examines the unique, combined, and interactive contribution of existential variables and traditional measures as predictors of depression in institutionalized and community-residing older adults. Results show that choice-responsibleness, social resources, and physical health predicted depression in community elderly; personal meaning, optimism,…

The comparative validity of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) scores for 123 African American and 561 Caucasian clients from a community mental health center was studied by contrasting mean MMPI-2 scores and correlations between these scores and therapists' ratings. Correlations were not significantly different for racial…

The interrelationship between personality and intelligence was investigated in several studies using data from a survey of 210 Scottish farmers. Evidence was found for increased differentiation of neuroticism and openness at higher levels of ability. There was no support for the hypothesis that intelligence affects the correlation between…