Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1998. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 10, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Jeffrey B. Hecht, Paul Baker (co-chairs), Patricia H. Klass, Graham Jones. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-154) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Open access. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-126). Print copy also available.

Literature reports that test anxiety may have an influence on aptitude test performance for some racial groups and therefore serves as a source of bias (Zeidner, 1998). Testing organisations have also found that individuals from African groups perform poorly on measures of fluid intelligence, putting them at a disadvantage when these scores are used for selection and training purposes. The current study examines a model defining the relationship between test anxiety, attentional resources and fluid intelligence in the following manner: an increase in test anxiety will result in a decrease of attentional resources as well as a decrease in fluid intelligence. With a decrease in attentional resources we will see a negative influence on fluid intelligence and test performance for different racial groups. Twenty-five African individuals and twenty-five individuals from Caucasian racial groups have set the stage to answer the question if certain groups experience higher test anxiety and thus perform poorly on fluid intelligence measures. Significant relationships were found, within and between groups, for attentional resources and fluid intelligence. Meanwhile, other factors, such as test anxiety, were not strongly associated with fluid intelligence performance. Future research into reasons why certain racial groups display lower overall attention in testing situations is suggested in order to ensure that tests for selection and training and aptitude tests are fair to all racial groups. / Psychology / M.A. Soc. Sc.(Psychology)

According to attachment theory, the establishment of an attachment bond to a caregiver not only provides the infant with protection from danger, but also many other resources presumably beneficial to the child’s general psychological development. Although there is substantial empirical support for a link between attachment security and social functioning in childhood and adolescence, less is known about whether childhood attachment contributes to social functioning beyond adolescence. Similarly, attachment has been found predictive of broad aspects of a person’s functioning, but few attempts have been made to link attachment to the currently dominating perspective on personality, the Five Factor Model (FFM). Results in Study I partially supported our expectations, by showing prospective links from middle childhood security to various aspects of social functioning in young adulthood. Further, security contributed to developmental change in social functioning from middle childhood to young adulthood. In Study II, middle childhood security was found to predict some of the FFM personality traits (primarily extraversion and openness) concurrently and prospectively, partially supporting our expectations. The third aim of this thesis was to address whether attachment disorganization, which has usually been found predictive of maladaptive phenomena, may predict also other, non-pathological outcomes. In Study II, we found that higher levels of disorganization in young adulthood were concurrently associated with more openness and lower conscientiousness. Furthermore, in Study III disorganization was shown to be concurrently associated with more New Age spirituality and more absorption in adulthood. In addition, absorption was, in accordance with our expectations, found to statistically mediate the link between disorganization and New Age spirituality. Hence, these findings supported our assumption that disorganization might be expressed in other life domains besides specifically maladaptive ones. Taken together, we suggest that attachment spreads its influence to a broad set of life domains through its continuous influence on general psychological components such as cognitive representations and self-regulation abilities. However, the modest strength of our results indicates that attachment is only one among several factors involved in the development of social functioning, personality traits, and spirituality.

Previous studies have found that West Indian pupils under-achieve in English schools. Unlike other ethnic minorities their "English-speaking" classification often precludes special language assistance. This study investigated the language usage and cultural affiliations of pupils of West Indian descent, using a sample of 241 twelve year olds from 7 schools. A special English test based on differences between Standard English and West Indian Dialect and an Attitude Test based on children's statements about culture, language, race and education were constructed and administered with a Cognitive Test and Anxiety Test. Teachers' views were obtained from a Teachers' Questionnaire. The experimental group was composed of pupils of West Indian descent taught by a compensatory programme that attempted to boost pupils' cultural self-esteem and correct language errors stemming from differences between 'Standard' and 'Dialect'. One control group comprised pupils of West Indian descent who received no special programme. The other was composed of white indigenous English children in similar schools. The main findings of the study were as follows: 1. English Test results indicated significant differences of score between the English and West Indian pupils on key grammar terms. 2. Cultural 'poles' of attitude groupings indicated sharp differences between these groups despite the British birth and education of the pupils of West Indian descent. 3. The experimental group, supposedly withdrawn at random from main group classes for the special cultural and linguistic enrichment programme, expressed unhappy attitudes and obtained significantly lower scores on the English and Cognitive Tests than either of the other groups. 4. Subsequent testing was carried out in the schools from which the experimental group had been obtained. This offered further evidence of the experimental group’s unusual characteristics, and provided additional information in a comparison made with the original control groups. The findings indicate that children of West Indian descent experience some difficulty with elements of language where ‘Standard’ and 'Dialect' differ and that these language elements should be taught in the main class group. The method of withdrawing West Indian pupils for special language and cultural classes is not recommended, as neither linguistic nor cultural benefits were observed and definite contra-indications were noted. Futhermore, 'multiculturalism' appears to be as important for the ethnic majority as for the minorities. Future research could develop the Attitude Test for use in correlative studies with English and other tests. It has been a particularly useful tool for identifying linguistic and cultural attitudes of a minority and has revealed group characteristics not previously identified. The English Test could contribute to the construction of diagnostic tests and lay the basis for a teaching programme based on features of 'Dialect' and ‘Standard’, in order to meet the needs of pupils of West Indian descent within a multicultural context in an integrated classroom.

Literature reports that test anxiety may have an influence on aptitude test performance for some racial groups and therefore serves as a source of bias (Zeidner, 1998). Testing organisations have also found that individuals from African groups perform poorly on measures of fluid intelligence, putting them at a disadvantage when these scores are used for selection and training purposes. The current study examines a model defining the relationship between test anxiety, attentional resources and fluid intelligence in the following manner: an increase in test anxiety will result in a decrease of attentional resources as well as a decrease in fluid intelligence. With a decrease in attentional resources we will see a negative influence on fluid intelligence and test performance for different racial groups. Twenty-five African individuals and twenty-five individuals from Caucasian racial groups have set the stage to answer the question if certain groups experience higher test anxiety and thus perform poorly on fluid intelligence measures. Significant relationships were found, within and between groups, for attentional resources and fluid intelligence. Meanwhile, other factors, such as test anxiety, were not strongly associated with fluid intelligence performance. Future research into reasons why certain racial groups display lower overall attention in testing situations is suggested in order to ensure that tests for selection and training and aptitude tests are fair to all racial groups. / Psychology / M.A. Soc. Sc.(Psychology)

The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial validity and measurement equivalence of the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS; Thomas, Murphy, & Hardy, 1999); the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith, Smoll, & Schultz, 1990); and the Golf Performance Survey (GPS; Thomas & Over, 1994) across age groups in a representative sample of amateur golfers. Based on archival data, participants comprising this study were 649 younger adult (n = 237) and older adult (n = 412) amateur golfers who played in the Dupont World Amateur Golf Championship in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The participants completed a set of questionnaires including psychological skills and strategies (e.g., self-talk, goal setting, imagery, etc.) used during competition, sport-specific competitive trait anxiety, and psychomotor skills and involvement in golf. Results demonstrated that the original factor structure of the TOPS competition subscale, the SAS, and the GPS, did not adequately fit the data among this sample of younger and older adult amateur golfers. Further exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses established evidence of factorial validity with the TOPS competition subscale, SAS, and the GPS with both younger and older adult amateur golfers. Configural, metric, scalar, and strict measurement invariance were identified in relation to the TOPS competition subscale, SAS, and the GPS across age cross-group comparisons. In general, the analyses demonstrated support that the TOPS competition subscale, SAS, and the GPS can be utilized with confidence with older adult amateur golfers, as well as conducting group comparisons with younger adult amateur golfers. The findings from this study have several future research directions and practical implications for structuring effective interventions with older adult amateur athletes.

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