Counselors frequently use batteries of psychological tests in helping students to select appropriate educational and occupational choices. The task of interpreting scores on a battery of tests to students is not at any time a simple undertaking. The trend toward emphasis on the importance of the relationship among the various scores in a battery of tests, has further complicated test interpretation. Vocational choice theories suggest an interrelationship between vocational interests and personality characteristics. They further suggest that different educational majors and occupations require different types of vocational interest and personality characteristics. Two tests, The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (hereafter referred to as the MMPI) and the Kuder Preference Record-Vocational (hereafter referred to as the Kuder), are frequently used to help students make educational and occupational choices. To help counselors make better interpretations, a number of research studies, using the MMPI and Kuder to determine the relationship of measured interest to measured personality traits have been conducted. The results of these studies have tended to disagree. Some studies have found no significant relationships between the two variables; while others have found significant relationships. There have also been many research studies, using the MMPI and Kuder, to determine personality and interest differences among the different college majors. These studies, too, have disagreed. Because of these limitations, there appears to be a need for a more systematic and dependable method of establishing relationships among the MMPI and Kuder, and of interpreting the patterns which are formed by those relationships.

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that impairs cognitive and functional abilities. Currently, there is no cure and it is estimated there will be 81 million cases of Alzheimer’s disease by 2040. Life for the individual with Alzheimer’s disease, and their family, changes drastically when the affected individual experiences significant impairments in cognitive or functional ability (severe dementia), is placed in a skilled nursing home facility (institutionalization), or passes away (death). Until a cure is discovered, it will be important to identify modifiable factors that influence progression to severe dementia, institutionalization, and death. Three hundred thirty-five participants who were living in the community were followed after the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and continued until they left the study or the study period ended. Participants completed neuropsychological assessments at each visit. Visits occurred as close to every 6 months as possible and the mean number of visits was 5.32 (SD = 3.46). Outcomes of interest were severe dementia, institutionalization, and death. Predictor variables were hypertension, stroke, congestive heart failure, number of prescription medications being taken, General Medical Health Rating (GMHR) score, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score. Cox Regression was utilized to identify associations with progression to the specified outcomes. GMHR score, congestive heart failure, and number of prescription medications were associated with progression to severe dementia. The number of prescription medications was also associated with nursing home placement. GMHR score, stroke, and number of prescription medications were associated with death. These findings are important because they contribute to a better understanding of how measures of medical health, certain medical conditions, and potentially their prevention or treatment may help those with Alzheimer’s disease sustain a higher quality of life.

During the last 15 years there has been a well documented decline in achievement test scores. Declines have been documented on both the American College Testing Program (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). An increased interest in t he score declines and their possible explanations has also taken place in the last 10 years. The explanation for the declines fit under four main headings: (1) problems with the tests, (2) changes in the testing population, (3) changes in society, and (4) changes in the schools. The purpose of this study was to begin with the test itself and check for possible score drift between two forms of the ACT, a 1977 ACT form and a form 5 to 7 years older than that. The sample population consisted of 242 juniors at Logan High School, Logan, Utah, and 153 juniors at Skyview High School, Smithfield, Utah, during the 1976-77 school year. These samples represent 83% of the Logan High junior population and 50% of the Skyview High junior class. All subjects took the two forms of the ACT mentioned above. In analyzing the data from the major samples with a two-tailed t test, it was found that there was a significant difference in the two tests. The largest difference was found on the mathematics subtest; the difference being that students scored higher on the older forms, not only on the mathematics subtest, but on the other subtests, also. A two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to check for variance due to sex of subjects and form of test and their interractions. The findings were consistent with those of the t test. It was found that the mathematics scores varied due to the form of the test. The only sex difference was that females' standard scores were higher than males' on the English subtests of both ACT forms. This study found a significant difference between an older ACT form and a 1977 ACT form as measured by subjects' scores on both. The findings of this research indicate that the test itself may be a partial cause of the current ACT score declines.

Leary has proposed a method of estimating overt interpersonal behavior from MMPI indices. However, subsequent investigations have only been able to validate a portion of this assessment technique at best. Thirty adults were individually given the MMPI to obtain estimates of interpersonal vertical (Dom) and horizontal (Lov) scores. Two raters described the subjects using the Interpersonal Checklist (ICL). The mean of theses two ratings produced the interpersonal vertical and horizontal scores. The Pearson Product Moment statistic was applied to the paired sets of vertical and horizontal scores. The results showed no correlation along the vertical or horizontal dimensions. Several possible explanations for these findings were discussed. It was concluded that Leary's Level I-M assessment method was not a valid estimate of overt interpersonal behavior.

The present study was a modified replication of Miller and Seligman’s (1973) study. Expectancy ratings under skill and chance tasks were examined in 51 college students in four groups: depressed high-external, depressed low-external, nondepressed high-external, and nondepressed low-extrenal. The major hypothesis predicted that there would be greater association (1) between both magnitude and direction of expectancy change and outcome of the previous trial (success/non-success) with nondepression than with depression, under the skill task, (2) between both magnitude and direction of expectancy change and outcome of the previous trial (success/non-success) with low-externality than with high-externality, under the skill task, and (3) between both magnitude and direction of expectancy change and outcome of the previous trial (success/non-success) for low-externality than for high-externality under the skill task and that this would be more evident with nondepression than with depression. None of these hypotheses was confirmed; no significant differences in expectancy ratings among the groups were found. Possible reasons for the failure of the present study to support Miller and Seligman’s findings regarding the influence of depression were discussed and suggestions for future research were made.

This study examined pediatric residents’ responsiveness and experiences in the context of a new pilot program, building an on-site Behavioral Health Consultant (BHC) into their primary care training site. Fifteen pediatric residents were divided so that 9 had access to an on-site BHC and 6 did not. Over the first year of the program, research assistants observed 322 patient visits to record concerns raised, residents’ responses, and visit length. Data regarding BHC activity and residents’ subjective impressions of the program were also collected. Results showed that at least one BH concern was raised in 24% of observed visits. Residents with access to the BHC initiated 89 on-the-spot referrals, resulting in 127 BHC-to-patient interactions. On average, residents spent 10 additional min/visit when BH concerns were raised but those with access to the BHC saved 8 min/visit when BH concerns were raised. Overall, residents utilized the service, particularly first and second year residents. Those with BHC access managed BH concerns in less time than those in the control group. Residents who utilized the BHC were very satisfied, perceived a better quality of care and patient outcomes, and desired future BHC collaboration. Implications for training residents in the area of pediatric behavioral health by using an on-site provider are discussed.

Clinical intervention with behavior problem children has traditionally focused on the ways in which parents modify the behavior of their children. This study examined this unidirectional approach in reverse, by investigating the effects of children's behavior on their parents. In a laboratory setting 18 boys, aged 8-12 years old, interacted with their mothers in a structured and unstructured task situation. I taught the children in the experimental group (n = 9) to maintain eye contact and smile while speaking, say thank you, avoid provocation, and ask for help and feedback. Unfortunately, the training failed to reliably carry over to the task sessions with the mothers. But, children in the experimental group exhibited significantly less noncompliance and negative interaction than children in the control group. Parents of children in the experimental group exhibited significantly less noncompliance and negative verbal and behavioral contact than control group parents.

Perspective-taking skills are central to the successful navigation of social situations. Children need perspective-taking skills to help them correctly interpret different cues and accurately assess social situations so they can determine how to best respond. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) exhibit marked impairments in this area. In order to develop successful social skills interventions for this population, it is critical that we have a strong understanding of the nature of their deficits. While there is robust evidence that children with ASD experience difficulty making inferences about the beliefs of others, research on their ability to infer emotions has had more mixed results (Baldwin, 1991; Baron-Cohen, 1991; Happe, 1994; Hillier and Allinson, 2002; Kaland et al., 2005; Joliffe & Baron-Cohen, 1999; Serra et al., 2002; Williams & Happe, 2010). This study examined how well children with autism spectrum disorders are able to make emotional inferences using three different measures of emotion attribution. The measures were administered to a clinical sample of participants with high functioning-autism spectrum disorders (HF-ASD) and a comparison sample of typically developing participants to determine whether individuals with HF-ASD experienced more difficulty making emotional inferences from different cues than their typically developing peers. The hypotheses that children with HF-ASD make fewer spontaneous emotional inferences and have lower levels of emotional awareness than their typically developing peers were also tested. Finally, performance on these emotional inferencing measures was examined to determine whether they were able to reliably discriminate between participants with different levels of autism-related symptomatology. Participants with autism performed as well as their peers on all measures of emotion attribution in this study. These findings and their implications are explored.

<p>Remembering requires an awareness of prior occurrence. In contrast, learning is indicated by savings on performing a task; no awareness of prior occurrence is necessary. Previous research has shown that performance on measures of learning can be functionally and statistically dissociated from performance on remembering tasks. Some investigators have concluded that these dissociations indicate that there are separate memory systems. The experiments performed in this thesis investigate the alternative explanation that dissociations between measures of memory result because of differing retrieval requirements. Whereas previous experiments employed learning and remembering tasks that were mismatched in their reliance on conceptual processes, the present experiments employ a learning task that focuses on the conceptual relations between words.</p> <p>Meaningfulness of study processing was manipulated by requiring categorization of word pairs as similar or dissimilar. When the same categorization was performed at transfer, learning was of greater magnitude and of longer duration for more meaningfully related words. When repeated words were categorized by different attributes virtually no learning was observed. Therefore, in contrast to other research (e.g., Jacoby & Dallas, 1981), the meaningfulness and context of processing words were important determinants of learning.</p> <p>The relation between remembering and savings on categorization was investigated by requiring a recognition decision after each categorization at transfer. Effects on recognition paralleled those on categorization. Better recognition performance was observed for more meaningfully related words and for words repeated in the same task context. Discrimination of task context also was better for more meaningfully related words. Therefore, the effect of equating processing requirements between measures was to produce a functional dependence between remembering and learning. A statistical dependence between measures also was obtained. At transfer, faster than average categorizations were associated with "old" recognition decisions in conditions in which subjects based their recognition decision on familiarity only. However, the conclusion of statistical association is tentative because the requirement to recognize after categorization interfered with categorization.</p> <p>Manipulations of retrieval processes were successful in converting dissociations into associations. Therefore, this investigation supports the differing retrieval requirements explanation of dissociations between measures of memory.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Within the last decade, the study of individual differences in reading skill has become an active area of investigation. Much of this research has been conducted with children, and has focused on selected processes hypothesized to underlie proficient reading skill. Relatively less attention has been directed toward evaluating the effects of experience in contributing to skill differences. The experiments reported in the thesis were designed to examine multiple dimensions of reading skill, and to evaluate the effects of repeated experience in two groups of readers selected on the basis of their comprehension skill. The results indicated that difference between skilled and less-skilled readers were apparent on all measures of reading. Despite these overall group differences, the less-skilled readers were at least able to benefit from repeated experience as were their more skilled peers. The results in the first experiment indicated that the less-skilled readers were poorer at word-level processing, particularly in processing unfamiliar lexical items. The second experiment examined whether this poorer processing reflected an inability to benefit from experience over repeated trials. The results indicated that the performance of both skilled and less-skilled readers improved with repeated experience. Moreover, similar gains were observed after repetition with text in Experiment 3. The results of Experiment 4 further indicated that, although the less-skilled readers appears less sensitive to higher-order dimensions of text structure when reading for meaning, their performance across specific transfer conditions indicated that they were able to used higher order information to facilitate comprehension. The results of these experiments suggest that investigation of the role of repeated experience in contributing to individual difference may clarify factors critical to the acquisition of proficient reading skills. The implications of these findings for models of reading and for future research are discussed.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)