Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-80).

Section A presents the hypothesis that attachment representations determine individuals’ capacities for empathy, which is necessary for sensitive and responsive caregiving. It reviews the evidence pertaining to whether this hypothesis applies within the context of employed caregivers caring for adults with learning disabilities. The evidence is considered in a stepwise fashion, based on four literature searches. The paper concludes by considering the implications of this literature for clinical practice and future research. Section B is an empirical research paper which describes the development of a new questionnaire aiming to measure employed carers’ empathy towards people with learning disabilities. It describes how investigation of the questionnaire’s factor structure illuminated the salient processes that may influence empathy in this specific relational context. It presents evidence of the questionnaire’s construct validity, internal reliability and test-retest reliability. The results are linked to existing literature and recommendations for clinical practice are made. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are considered.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

This study investigated cultural bias in the 46 Verbal items of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA). Two separate approaches to the examination of item bias were utilized. The first approach examined item bias empirically by comparing performance differences in terms of correct item responses given by examinees from Anglo and Mexican-American cultures. The second approach addressed the issue of face validity by obtaining the opinion of Anglo-American (AA) and Mexican-American (MA) judges regarding their perception of item bias for AA and MA examinees. The two criteria used to judge item bias were examinee opportunity to learn item content and examinee familiarity with the language used in the items. The Verbal items of the McCarthy Scales were administered to 59 Anglo-American and 59 Mexican-American examinees matched for age and sex. Ability differences were controlled by generating common ability intervals for both groups based on overall Verbal scale score. The obtained data was tested utilizing procedures for the analysis of contingency tables. Two statistical analyses applied to the data were Scheuneman's modified chi-square and the log-linear technique using the likelihood ratio chi-square statistic. Statistically significant performance differences between the two groups, identified by both analyses, were found for only two items of the Word Knowledge II subtest which measures vocabulary comprehension. The differences in perception of the two groups of judges in terms of opportunity to learn item content and familiarity with item language across AA and MA examinees was examined. The obtained ratings of item bias were tested with the chi-square statistic. Significant differences in ratings of two groups of judges on the opportunity to learn dimension were found for 16 items. It was revealed that more AA judges perceived 14 of these items to be fair for both groups of examinees in terms of opportunity to learn, while more MA judges perceived the AA child as having more opportunity to learn the content of these items. However for two of the 16 items the statistically significant difference between the two groups reflected the perception of MA judges that bias favored the MA examinees. There was a high degree of agreement between the two groups of judges in their rating on the familiarity dimension, with both groups indicating more familiarity with item language for AA subjects for most items. Significant differences in the ratings of the two groups were identified for four items. These items were from the Word Knowledge and Verbal Memory subtests. For three of these items the obtained data indicated that the greater number of MA judges perceived these items as favoring AA subjects. For the remaining item the results pointed out that more MA judges perceived that MA subjects seemed to have greater familiarity with the item language as compared with their Anglo counterpart. There was no discernible pattern of judgment in terms of item difficulty, with easier items perceived as more biased than more difficult ones in some cases. Judge responses appear more related to specific item content than level of difficulty or verbal complexity. The findings from both studies led to the conclusion that the majority of the verbal items in the McCarthy Scales seemed to be fair for Anglo and Mexican-American subjects. Implications of these findings were discussed and recommendations were made for future studies intended to examine item bias.

The purpose of the study is to assess whether a psychological test of learning potential can predict supervisory rating of different components of learning potential for the low level worker-This exercise would be done ascertain the relationship between the learning potential by using the TRAM-2 battery Ca learning potential assessment instrument) and supervisory rating of the sample of workers. A sample of 60 employees with levels of education ranging form grade 8 to 12 inclusive was used. It is hoped that the findings would predict or identify employees with potential for development which would then lead to planning how that potential is developed to, empower the employees to improve their performance and self actualise their objectives. This would enhance the realisation of aims and objective of skills development and employment equity plan of the company. The findings and their implications and suggestions would be discussed in this study. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

The psychometric properties of a revised body image self-consciousness measure were examined using 11 correlate measures, including a measure of general body image, with a sample of male and female participants. A factor analysis of the BISC-R measure revealed one distinct factor, suggesting there are not male-oriented and female-oriented subscales, as hypothesized. Furthermore, results revealed no significant differences in correlations between body image self-consciousness and body image avoidance and the correlate measures, suggesting body image self-consciousness is essentially a construct similar to body image avoidance. Results provide support for future use of a body image avoidance measure as opposed to a body image self-consciousness measure in research as well as clinical settings. / Department of Psychological Science

At the same time that research has raised questions about the efficiency, cost effectiveness and overall value of triennial reevaluation in special education programs, school psychologists have expressed a desire to spend less time in psychometric testing. This study examined the effects of using the General Purpose Abbreviated Battery of the Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition (Binet GP) in the triennial reevaluation of learning disabled students.The Binet GP, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Brief Form (Kaufman BF) were given concurrently to 50 learning disabled students during triennial reevaluation. Intelligence/ achievement discrepancy scores were calculated by subtracting Kaufman BF achievement subtest scores from achievement levels predicted by performance on the Binet GP and WISC-R intelligence scales. These discrepancy scores were compared to determine how use of the Binet GP might effect eligibility for placement in a learning disabilities program. Cognitive scores derived from the Binet GP and the WISC-R were also compared.Descriptive statistics and univariate correlations were computed. The correlational relationship between intelligence scores on the Binet GP and the WISC-R was significant, positive and substantial. The relationship between discrepancy scores was significant, positive and high. A repeated measures analysis of mean differences between Binet GP and WISC-R scores was nonsignificant as was a comparison of the variances and mean discrepancy scores. A chi-square and a coefficient of level of classification (Kappa) were used to test agreement in classification as projected by Binet GP and WISC-R discrepancy scores. Agreement in classification and level of classification was significant with 86% of the subjects classified the same by both cognitive measures. It appears that, used judiciously and in like context, the Binet GP might be a time efficient and valid addition to reevaluation. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study was to test the construct validity of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), Parent and Teacher Rating Scales (PRS and TRS). Six samples were considered, including the Normative General and Clinical Samples for each measure (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992). Another pair of samples were taken from a database of a Georgia hospital (PRS n = 130, TRS n = 108). The Normative Clinical Sample of TRS scores was multicollinear, and was not used.Five models were designed for each measure: a single factor solution, the theoretical model of the BASC, and three adaptations of the scoring system. Using AMOS, these models were fit to the samples. Only the theoretical model met minimum standards for adequate fit. Multi-sample analyses with different combinations of parameter restrictions were conducted to determine which aspects of the theoretical model's factor structure accounted for the most sample variance. When fit to both normative samples of PRS scores, all aspects of the factor solution were found to contribute. For all other runs, it was found that error, unique, and factor variances contributed the most to the factor solution. This suggests that the relationship of variables/scales to the factors/composites in this model could be improved. It is suggested that practitioners disregard composite scores, and that the authors/publishers of the BASC consider using regression weights to formulate composite scores in the scoring program. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of the study was to investigate the construct validity of the Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS). A confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine if items from the scales of Learning, Motivational, and Creativity Characteristics were able to identify separate homogeneous sets of behavioral characteristics of gifted and talented students.The subjects were 152 third- and fourth-grade students who had been identified as being potential candidates for inclusion in a program for gifted and talented students. SRBCSS forms were completed by regular classroom teachers. The sample was split to allow for cross-validation of results.Two nested three-factor models were established a priori. Maximum likelihood estimates were calculated using LISREL IV (Jorskog & Sorbom, 1978). Models were evaluated using the overall chi-square, residual matrices, the ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom, increment of fit indices, and differences chi-square.The proposed structure of three-uncorrelated constructs was unable to reconstruct the obtained correlations. The three factors of Learning, Motivation and Creativity were necessary but not sufficient to describe the relationships among the scale items. Allowing the constructs themselves to be interrelated improved the amount of covariation among the items which could be explained. However, adding a fourth Nonconformity Factor provided a more plausible representation of the data than either three-factor solution.However, labeling of the factors may be somewhat ambiguous due to the nature of the factor loadings of the individual items on them. Cross-validation showed a similar pattern of coefficients for the second sample with some "shrinkage" effect.The results of this study suggest that the validity of the constructs of the SRBCSS as establishedin is questionable. While separate dimensions emerged, they were neither easily interpretable nor distinctly separate. It was not clear if the interrelationships of the scale items were due to a sharing of some underlying dimension or to their placement on the scales. In addition, it was suggested that some higher order factor might be needed to account for the relationships found in the data.

With increases in medical technology, infant mortality has decreased, while infant morbidity has increased over the past half century. Moreover, the definition of high-risk pregnancy continues to lack true universal acceptance. Thus, continued research in the area of perinatal complications is warranted. There have been studies that have suggested short-term and long-term deficits considered to be secondary to perinatal complications. Psychologists often gather information about a given child’s perinatal history, but do not always have means to interpret how those complications may impact the child later in life. The Maternal Perinatal Scale (MPS) has been shown to have good reliability and validity in past studies, but a scoring system has yet to be established. This project consisted of two studies. The first study created a preliminary scoring system for the developmental questionnaire, the Maternal Perinatal Scale. This questionnaire has proven to have potential for good clinical utility, but prior to this study, had nothing beyond item-by-item analysis for interpreting the results. To test the validity of the proposed scoring system, a second study was conducted to determine cutoff scores and classification rates for the scoring system on data previously collected with children in elementary school. Results revealed proposed scores for each item on the MPS and classification rates associated with certain developmental disorders later in life. / Department of Educational Psychology