The primary purpose of this study was to develop and establish the reliability and validity of the East Asian Student Stress Inventory. Data was obtained from 235 East Asian students at the University of North Texas during the fall semester of 1992. The procedures used were a two-week interval test-retest for reliability, experts' assessment of test items for face validity, a factor analysis, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient for construct validity. Significance was set at the .05 level. The EASSI was identified as having moderately high reliability. High test anxiety, physiological symptoms, social support, financial difficulty, and culture shock were found to be constructs of the EASSI. Majority of independent variables in this study effectively identified stressors and stresses among East Asian students.

Abstract not available

published_or_final_version / abstract / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

The concept of biodata is defined as an assessment and evaluation of demonstrated to be related to personality structure, personal adjustment, or success in social, educational, or occupational pursuits.

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

This thesis deals with personal integrity and its testing for the job tender. The main objective is to determine the test-retest reliability of the integrity test, which is currently being developed and studied at the National Institute of Mental Health in Klecany. Another aim of the work is to compare the Czech version of the integrity test, a whole set of psychological tests designed to investigate the integrity intended for recruiting new employees, and the findings of foreign tests, which are used primarily in the United States. The use of integrity tests is a common practice abroad in the selection process of new employees, for example in lower administration or positions working with money. Work has both theoretical and practical character. The theoretical part summarizes the findings about integrity from authors throughout history, present information about foreign integrity test (types, weaknesses, ethical issues of testing, the proposed rules for the implementation of integrity tests for job tenders for organization, etc.). Finally, it discusses psychometrics and required characteristics for quality tests. The practical part is based on a test-retest study that was conducted on a sample of 51 respondents in the time interval of 4 to 5 months. Respondents were repeatedly presented with a...

Bakgrund: Personalplanering är ett strategiskt arbete som bland annat handlar om att förstå vilken personal och kompetens som finns i organisationen. Organisationer lägger idag fokus på att göra det sociala livet reviderbart, vilket kan vara en anledning till att kvantitativa urvalsmetoder används i rekryteringsprocessen. I samband med detta belyses kritik mot en kvalitativ metod då subjektivitet vid insamlande av information inte anses önskvärt. Trovärdigheten samt validiteten i arbetspsykologiska tester, vilket är en rationell urvalsmetod, ifrågasätts då synen på kvantifiering av kandidatens egenskaper är delad. Det är därför av intresse att öka förståelsen för användandet av arbetspsykologiska tester och dess funktion i praktiken, hur andra faktorer påverkar validiteten samt betydelsen av en kontextuell förståelse. Syfte: Att få en större förståelse över hur den rationella urvalsmetoden arbetspsykologiska tester används som ett verktyg i rekryteringsprocessen. Genom att anlägga ett perspektiv som belyser komplexiteten i både beslut och människan avser uppsatsen även att ifrågasätta hur metoden fungerar i det praktiska rekryteringsarbetet. Metod: I denna kvalitativa undersökning har åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med testledare genomförts för att få en djupare insikt i hur testerna fungerar i det praktiska arbetet. Utöver detta presenteras tre dimensioner av arbetspsykologisk testning som sätter ramarna för uppsatsen upplägg. Slutsats: Funktionen av testerna är beroende av dess avsedda syfte och tillvägagångssätt gällande när och hur testerna används. Begåvningstester kan vara en effektiv och rättvis metod för att sträva efter objektivitet i första urvalet där tydliga minimikrav finns. Personlighetstester kan vara ett hjälpmedel för att förstå hur kandidatens förutsättningar ser ut snarare än att få en större förståelse för hur kandidaten är. / Background: Personnel planning is a strategic function that involves, among other things, comprehension about that staff and skills that exist in the organization. Organizations today focus on making the social life revisable, which could be a reason for using quantitative selection methods in recruitment. In relation to this, there is some criticism about using a qualitative method since subjectivity in gathering information is not considered desirable. The credibility and validity in work related psychological testing, which is a rational selection method, are questioned since the view of quantification of the candidate's attributes is divided. Therefore, it is of interest to increase the understanding of the function and practical use of work related psychological testing, the significance of contextual understanding as well as how other factors affect its validity. Purpose: To gain a greater understanding of how the rational selection method, work related psychological testing, is used as a tool in the recruitment process. By constructing a perspective that highlights the complexity of both decision making and personality, this essay also aims to examine the function of the method in the practical recruitment work. Method: In this qualitative study, eight semi-structured interviews with test leaders have been conducted to gain a deeper insight into the function of testing in the practical work. In addition to this, a model of three dimensions of work related psychological testing are presented and set the framework for the structure of the essay. Conclusion: The function of the tests is dependent on its purpose and approach considering when and how the test is used. Mental ability testing is an effective and fair method to strive for objectivity in the first selection where minimum requirements exist. Personality tests can be a tool to understand the candidate's conditions rather than creating a complete image of the candidate’s traits.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Educational Psychology))--University of the Witwatersrand, Education Faculty, 1998 / Reports received on psychoeducational assessments of their pupils, were rated by 93 teachers from Ex-"Model"C" primary schools in the greater Johannesburg area. The reports came mainly for psychologists in private practice (n=63) followed by departmental support services. (n=27) and education clinics (n=3). The chief reason for referral was academic difficulties. Thf majority of teachers held favourable attitudes to psychologists and test data in general, found report content as presented in specific reports useful, and found reports useful overall. Forced choices ratings also indicated that the majority of teachers were satisfied with their reports in areas commonly criticised in the literature (length of report, .understanding of the teacher’s role, specificity and number of recommendations, language use). These very positive findings are tempered by indications that teachers may have been : somewhat biased toward giving positive ratings, and by certain criticisms of the reports.Also reports were not seen as positively with regards to helping teachers deal with classroom ; behaviour and in helping develop specific instructional plans/methods. Language use, particularly in the presentations of test results, may represent a difficulty for teachers, Teacher ratings of the overall usefulness of specific reports did not relate significantly to their demographic charactel^ajs, or their attitudes to psychologists or test data.

"The Columbia Mental Maturity Scale (CMMS) was developed because of the great need for an instrument with which to fairly evaluate the intelligence of children handicapped by cerebral palsy and other motor or verbal impairments. Though the form and presentation of the CMMS are adapted to meet the difficult task of adequately testing such children, the authors of the Scale state that the CMMS "...is, of course, entirely suitable for use with normal subjects" (5. p.1). So it appears that the CMMS may be safely administered to all children, normal or handicapped. In this study the Scale has been used to measure the intelligence of mentally deficient children"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1955." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 19-20).

Atualmente a obesidade, considerada um problema de saúde pública, vem sendo alvo de inúmeras pesquisas dada a gravidade desta doença crônica e de seus altos índices epidemiológicos. Poucos estudos têm sido feitos na tentativa de compreender a psicodinâmica deste tema. Esta pesquisa se insere nesta direção, pretende descrever, através da perspectiva kleiniana, os principais aspectos e conteúdos psicodinâmicos das crianças obesas estudadas. Os participantes foram seis crianças de oito a dez anos de idade com diagnóstico clínico de obesidade. Utilizaram-se como instrumentos para análise e interpretação dos dados o Procedimento de Desenhos-Estórias e o Teste de Apercepção Temática Infantil com Figuras de Animais, além da realização de entrevista semi-dirigida com as mães, visando obter dados da história de vida dos participantes. A análise dos instrumentos se baseou em Tardivo (1997), identificando as atitudes básicas, figuras significativas, sentimentos expressos, tendências e desejos, impulsos, ansiedades e mecanismos de defesa. Os resultados encontrados indicaram nas crianças avaliadas voracidade, agressividade reprimida e, em maior parte, utilização de mecanismos defensivos predominantemente relacionados à posição esquizo-paranóide, tais como, cisão, negação e idealização para lidar com as situações de perda e sofrimento, o que indica predomínio da relação de objeto parcial, porém evidenciaram-se tentativas de reparação em alguns momentos. Também foram observados sinais e sintomas indicativos de depressão clínica em parte da amostra avaliada. Observou-se que a história de vida das crianças, o ambiente interno e externo, os comportamentos aprendidos e o desenvolvimento emocional, interferiram na evolução da obesidade. Sanciona a importância de uma intervenção psicoterapêutica que possa ajudar as crianças integrar os objetos parciais e fortalecer o ego para que possam lidar de forma mais efetiva com a culpa depressiva, pois, muitas vezes, prejuízos marcantes nas relações objetais, podem estar associados ao desenvolvimento de doenças, transtornos ou mesmo grande sofrimento psíquico / Nowadays obesity is considered a public health problem, it has been subject of numerous studies due to the severity of chronic disease and its high epidemiological levels. Few studies have been developed to understand the psychodynamics of this theme. This research goes toward this direction, it aims to describe, by kleinian perspective, the main psychodynamic aspects and inside contents of the obese children studied. The participants were six children aged eight to ten years old with a clinical diagnosis of obesity. The Drawings-Stories Procedure, Childrens Apperception Test with Animals Figures, in addition to a semi-directed interview with mothers to obtain data about participants life history were used as instruments for analysis and interpretation. The analysis of the instruments was based on Tardivo (1997), identifying the basic attitudes, significant figures, sentiments, tendencies and desires, impulses, anxieties and defense mechanisms. In the evaluated children, the results indicated voracity, repressed aggressiveness and, in most of them, use of defensive mechanisms predominantly related to paranoid-schizoid position, such as splitting, idealization and denial to deal with situations of deprivation and suffering, which indicates the predominance of a partial object relation, but there were reparation attempts in some moments. Signs and indicative symptoms of clinical depression were also observed in part of the sample. It was observed that the lives history of children, the internal and external environments, learned behaviors and emotional development, influenced the obesity evolution in the evaluated sample. It demonstrates the importance of a psychotherapeutic intervention that can help children to integrate the partial objects and reinforce the ego, so that they can deal more effectively with depressive guilt, because, many times, outstanding damages in object relations may be associated with the development of diseases, disorders or major psychological distress