Compares three models positing differing roles for values in predicting fairness judgments and support of affirmative action: Tetlock's (1986) value pluralism models, Lind's (1992) fairness heuristic hypothesis, and Jackman's (1978) model involving no role for values. Results support the fairness heuristic hypothesis, indicating that values play a…

Explores the extent of preschoolers' knowledge of mixed emotions, and whether difficulty in discerning mixed emotions stems from beliefs about how emotions are portrayed on the face. Found that both four- and five-year olds can identify mixed emotions. Only five-year olds (with appropriate scaffolding and with simple, clear stories) can…

Examined multiple measures of 82 young children's emotionality, regulation, and social functioning over a 2-year period, finding that social functioning was predicted by low negative emotionality and high levels of regulation. Also found that vagal tone was positively related to competent social functioning and emotionality/regulation for boys,…

Reports on a project which developed a measure of levels of difficulty of reference questions handled by the California Interlibrary Reference Referral Network, and identified indicative measures that would reliably stand for the concept of difficulty. Correlations of predictive difficulty and actual difficulty are discussed. (nine references)…

This paper reviews factors in the professional neglect of multiple personality disorder (MPD) and sexual abuse in childhood, as well as recent diagnostic developments in childhood dissociative disorders. The identification of subtle dissociative symptomatology in children is illustrated, and two case examples are presented. (Author)

Reviews research on impact assessment of libraries and considers potentially useful methodologies for measuring the impact of university libraries, i.e., how library use affects students' academic performance. Topics discussed include categories of library use, purposes of library use, and indicators of library impact. The user panel methodology…

Examined voting behavior among 370 low-income older African Americans by assessing impact of various predictors on electoral participation in 7 elections. Elders who were active in community, with strong sense of citizen duty, who identified as strong Democrats, and with higher levels of education were more likely to vote. (Author/NB)

A survey of 300 institutions of higher education found 9 factors associated with alumni giving participation rates. These included library volumes per student; average Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of entering first-year college students; percentage of faculty with doctorates; educational and general budget expenditures per student; endowment…

Finds that the Diagnostic Writing Skills Test, used as a diagnostic grammar pretest for students in a basic business communication course, shows positive correlations between the pretest and the final course grade, but does not predict that grade. (SR)

Multiple regression analysis is discussed as useful for studying the effect of a variable while controlling for the effects of others and for estimating the total effect of all predictor variables together. It is suggested that in English-as-a-Second-Language proficiency measurement, regression coefficients should not be the basis for judging…

A new statistical model based for identifying potential major donors was developed from a portion (n=53,276) of the Northwestern University (Illinois) alumni database. The model, utilizing logit analysis, found that the most critical measure was individuals' past giving records. Results indicate prospects with a low past giving level will rarely…

This editorial proposes that the dependent variables that predict childhood intelligence quotient (IQ) from habituation and recognition memory assessments made during infancy may primarily reflect individual differences in rate of information processing. Inhibition may be a stable thread in mental development. (Author/SLD)

This study examined the interaction of 3 schemata on overall reading comprehension in 95 first-year English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) college students: language skills, content knowledge, and rhetorical structure. The results indicated that content schemata best predicted EFL test comprehension, although all three schemata contributed in some…

Analysis of data from 138 women, infants, children participants who completed Child Abuse Potential Inventory showed mothers with higher educational attainment appeared less likely to be abusive regardless of such factors as low income, single parenthood, or large family size. Mothers who did not complete high school were at greater risk for…

Investigated intergenerational transmission of violence among college students in dating relationships (n=380). Severe abuse by his father predicted a man's violent behavior. Witnessing marital violence predicted a woman's liberal attitudes and a man's conservative attitudes. Discrepancy in attitudes toward women and particularly a woman's liberal…