The Scale of Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Mentally Retarded Persons (PDD-MRS) is described. The PDD-MRS is a simple classification and screening instrument devised for identification of autistic disorders (of the entire spectrum) in persons with mental retardation from mild to profound levels, age-range 2-55 years. The norms of the scale…

Spearman's hypothesis states that the differences between Blacks and Whites in psychometric IQ are attributable to a fundamental difference in general intelligence ("g"). To investigate this hypothesis, Jensen devised the method of correlated vectors. This method involves calculating the correlation between the factor loadings of the…

Social intelligence is a construct that has shown promising practical applications, but its use in research and applied settings has been limited by definitional problems and the complexity of most existing measures of social intelligence. The goal of the present study was to adapt the Italian version [Gini & Iotti (2004) "La Tromso…

Researchers and educators continue to try to understand and predict premature post-secondary institutional departure. According to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy beliefs are the gateway to understanding why individuals initiate behavior, the effort they expend in engaging in behavior, and their persistence in the face of obstacles. College…

Attitude measurement has had a somewhat chequered history since the possibility of achieving it successfully was demonstrated by Thurstone in 1929. It has been an important area in science education, particularly in the context of falling uptakes in the physical sciences in many countries, and there have been many attempts to measure learner…

Computerized multistage testing (MST) designs require sets of test questions (testlets) to be assembled to meet strict, often competing criteria. Rules that govern testlet assembly may dictate the number of questions on a particular subject or may describe desirable statistical properties for the test, such as measurement precision. In an MST…

Each of the Major Contribution's articles has traced counseling psychology's rich positive heritage. This reaction assesses this heritage in relation to positive psychology and considers the fundamental question of "To whose agenda are we working?" as psychological practitioners, locating the answer within the impact it has on our practice. The…

The underlying mechanism of search asymmetry is still unknown. Many computational models postulate top-down selection of target-defining features as a crucial factor. This feature selection account implies, and other theories implicitly assume, that predefined target identity is necessary for search asymmetry. The authors tested the validity of…

This article presents a psychometric model for estimating ability and item-selection strategies in self-adapted testing. In contrast to computer adaptive testing, in self-adapted testing the examinees are allowed to select the difficulty of the items. The item-selection strategy is defined as the distribution of difficulty conditional on the…

The present study evaluates the discriminating ability and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Draw-A-Person Questionnaire (DAPQ). The DAPQ is an instrument that uses both free-response and fixed-response methodologies and has been recently translated into Spanish. A group of 60 psychiatric patients of Latin American origin is…

Central to the development of culturally competent violence prevention programs for Hispanic youth is the development of psychometrically sound violence risk and outcome measures for this population. A study was conducted to determine the psychometric properties of two commonly used violence measures, in this case for Mexican American adolescent…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) with a large sample (1313 classrooms). We explored both the seven subscales and the possibility of fewer distinct aspects of quality being measured by the scale. The large sample size allowed both…

Asking children and adolescents directly about their experience of sexual victimization overcomes some of the methodological weaknesses inherent in other approaches. Yet complex legal, ethical, and methodological issues remain. This paper reviews the psychometric properties of those questions or instruments that have measured exposure to child…

A variety of coding schemes are available for direct observational assessment of student classroom behavior. These instruments have been used for a number of assessment tasks including screening children in need of further evaluation for emotional and behavior problems, diagnostic assessment of emotional and behavior problems, assessment of…

The Health Behavior Schedule-II for Diabetes (HBS-IID) is a 27-item questionnaire that was evaluated as a predictor of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). The HBS-IID was completed by 96 adults with Type 2 diabetes. Recent glycosylated hemoglobin HbA1c and fasting blood glucose results were taken from participants' medical records. Only 31.3%…