The perceptions,policy, and practice of educating twins: A review

Twin births are increasing at a rapid rate, yet many educational personnel throughout the world are unaware of the needs of twins in school. Stereotypical views of twins as pathologically close or excessively dependent pervade educational policies and practices, despite the fact that twins do not differ from singletons on rates of psychological disturbance. Research shows that many schools implement strict policies for classroom placement of twins, yet the effects of such policies on twins' development and educational attainment are currently unknown. Recommendations for school personnel and future directions for this formative area are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 429–438, 2003.     

Examining Chi-Square Test Statistics Under Conditions of Large Model Size and Ordinal Data

This study examined the effect of model size on the chi-square test statistics obtained from ordinal factor analysis models. The performance of six robust chi-square test statistics were compared across various conditions, including number of observed variables (p), number of factors, sample size, model (mis)specification, number of categories, and threshold distribution. Results showed that the unweighted least squares (ULS) robust chi-square statistics generally outperform the diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) robust chi-square statistics. The ULSM estimator performed the best overall. However, when fitting ordinal factor analysis models with a large number of observed variables and small sample size, the ULSM-based chi-square tests may yield empirical variances that are noticeably larger than the theoretical values and inflated Type I error rates. On the other hand, when the number of observed variables is very large, the mean- and variance-corrected chi-square test statistics (e.g., based on ULSMV and WLSMV) could produce empirical variances conspicuously smaller than the theoretical values and Type I error rates lower than the nominal level, and demonstrate lower power rates to reject misspecified models. Recommendations for applied researchers and future empirical studies involving large models are provided.     

Big girls don't cry: the effect of child witness demeanor on juror decisions in a child sexual abuse trial

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of child witness demeanor (defined as crying) on mock jurors' decisions in a simulated First-Degree rape trial. METHOD: One hundred and thirty-three undergraduates serving in the role of mock jurors read a trial summary in which the primary independent variable was the demeanor of the alleged child victim (i.e., calm, teary, hysterical crying). In addition to reading the summary, participants viewed pencil drawings of the witnesses that were presented as "courtroom drawings." RESULTS: The results showed that the teary condition led to more guilty verdicts and a greater belief in the alleged victim than the other demeanor conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study indicate that demeanor can impact the perception of a child who is an alleged sexual assault victim in court. However, it is not simply the case that any display of demeanor will lead to a positive outcome for the alleged victim. Instead, it appears that too little or too much emotion from the alleged child victim negatively affected credibility in the eyes of the mock jurors.     

Television Violence and Its Effects on Young Children

This article examines research on television violence and links violence to specific programs commonly watched by young children. Although there are some who try to disprove any connection between television and aggresive behavior, there is evidence to suggest that such linkages do exist.     

A Comparison of Self-Explanation and Elaborative Interrogation

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of two learning strategies, self-explanation and elaborative interrogation, for the retention of scientific facts. University students (N= 55) were asked to learn facts about the cardiovascular system using one of three approaches. Self-explanation participants were required to explain what the facts meant to them and how they related to their prior knowledge. Elaborative interrogation participants answered “why” the facts made sense. Finally, the control group simply repeated the facts aloud. Self-explanation participants significantly outperformed elaborative interrogation and repetition control participants on measures of cued recall and recognition. Elaborative interrogation was no more effective than repetition. Results were discussed in terms of the practicality and flexibility of each approach.     

Use of Criminal Background Checks in Counselor Education

To conduct an initial investigation into the use of criminal background checks and related issues in counselor education programs, surveys were sent to the contacts from 50 programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001). The results of this pilot study highlight the need for more research, discussion, and discourse about the benefits and disadvantages of using criminal background checks.     

IQ and neuropsychological predictors of academic achievement

Word reading and math computation scores were predicted from Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence Full Scale IQ, 10 neuropsychological tests, and parent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ratings in 214 general population elementary school children. IQ was the best single predictor of achievement. In addition, Digit Span contributed significantly to reading prediction, and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) and Coding contributed to math prediction. The remaining neuropsychological test scores did not significantly improve achievement prediction. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a general ability factor (comprising the four IQ subtests, Digit Span, VMI, reading, and math), five factors made up solely of subtests from single measures (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color and Word Test, Gordon Diagnostic System, California Verbal Learning Test, and ADHD ratings), a factor consisting of Grooved Pegboard Test and Coding, and a factor consisting of Symbol Search and Animal Naming Test.     

Overshadowing and CS duration: counteraction and a reexamination of the role of within-compound associations in cue competition

In the present experiments, we examined the role of within-compound associations in the interaction of the overshadowing procedure with conditioned stimulus (CS) duration, using a conditioned suppression procedure with rats. In Experiment 1, we found that, with elemental reinforced training, conditioned suppression to the target stimulus decreased as CS duration increased (i.e., the CS duration effect), whereas, with compound reinforced training (i.e., the overshadowing procedure), conditioned suppression to the target stimulus increased as CS duration increased. In subsequent experiments, we replicated these findings with sensory preconditioning and demonstrated that extinction of the overshadowing stimulus results in retrospective revaluation with short CSs and in mediated extinction with long CSs. These results highlight the role of the duration of the stimulus in behavioral control. Moreover, these results illuminate one cause (the CS duration) of whether retrospective revaluation or mediated extinction will be observed.