Finds that when undergraduate student interactants had prior information about each other, state-receiver apprehension was positively related to uncertainty and both were negatively related to information-seeking and confirmation of relational predictions. Suggests that state-receiver apprehension may possibly lead to uncertainty. Develops a…

Developed an instrument to measure empowering leader behavior (study 1, n=1,309) and studied the relationship of the instrument to several theoretically relevant variables (study 2, n=84). Confirmatory factor analyses support a six-dimension model of empowering leader behavior. Psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between six…

Describes the development and validation of the Africultural Coping Systems Inventory, a measure of culture-specific coping strategies used by African Americans in stressful situations that is grounded in African-centered concepts. Data from African American adults indicated that a four-factor model best represented the group's culture-specific…

A test of the Scale of Perceived Social Self-Efficacy with 354 undergraduates supported the instrument's internal consistency and construct and discriminant validity. Social self-efficacy was strongly related to social and enterprising confidence and to shyness, all of which influence career development. (SK)

Presents the rationale for and initial findings concerning the development of the Parental Comparison Level Index (PCLI). Explains that the PCLI--based on interpersonal processes--focuses on the role that expectations and comparative processes play in relationships. Data collected on 439 parents offer strong support for two highly reliable…

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…

This brief history traces the development of item response theory (IRT) from concepts originating in 19th-century mathematics and psychology to present-day principles drawn from statistical estimation theory. Connections to other fields and current trends in IRT are outlined. (SLD)

Provides an argument for incorporating consideration of consequences into validity theory that is grounded in the reflexive nature of social knowledge. It also calls for the consideration of evidence of validity based on the actual discourse surrounding the practices and products of testing. (SLD)

Describes a "mistake" on the newly developed Illinois State Achievement Test for Third Grade reading comprehension involving the substitution of illustrations of a White family for the African-American family members in a story. Tells the story of how a group of third-graders discovered the mistake and the reactions and events which took…

Two versions of the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire for adults were developed and tested with 407 smokers and nonsmokers. The version with probability items appeared to have greater construct validity than the version with subjective expected utility items. The scale reflects the refinement of smokers' outcome expectancies with experience. (SLD)

Conducted two studies to develop and provide evidence supporting the construct validity of scores on a scale to measure two aspects of workplace friendship: friendship prevalence and friendship opportunities. Data from samples of 200 graduate students and 116 graduate students and employees support convergent, discriminant, and nomological…

Compared five item selection rules with respect to the efficiency and precision of trait (theta) estimation at the early stages of computerized adaptive testing (CAT). The Fisher interval information, Fisher information with a posterior distribution, Kullback-Leibler information, and Kullback-Leibler information with a posterior distribution…

Summarizes research related to humor in testing and presents new evidence on the effectiveness of humor in constructed-response items. Findings from a survey at Johns Hopkins University's School of Nursing indicated that students feel that humor makes a difference in their test performance. Describes specific strategies for using humor in tests.…

Studied how students used feedback information provided them in distinctly framed portfolios of dossier, reflective, and learning-oriented types. Results with 137 college students support a view of portfolio construction in which the individual benefits from feedback were closely linked to the intentions present during collection of the portfolio…

Developed an approach to account for the impact of item presentation on ensuing constructs in the development of two versions of a self-report measure, the Relational Concept Scale, that was tested with 978 adolescent students in the United Kingdom. Outlines benefits of developing two versions of the scale to protect against presentational bias.…