According to two decades of research, parental sexual orientation does not affect overall child development. Researchers have not found significant differences between offspring of heterosexual parents and those of lesbian and gay parents in terms of their cognitive, psychological, or emotional adjustment. Still, there are gaps in the literature…

This article describes the development of a ten-item scale to assess biology majors' self-efficacy towards the critical thinking and data analysis skills taught in an upper-division cell biology course. The original seven-item scale was expanded to include three additional items based on the results of item analysis. Evidence of reliability and…

Examined the sensitivity to change over time of the Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis Assessment Questionnaire (ALSAQ-40; C. Jenkinson and others, 1999). Findings for 764 individuals show that the ALSAQ-40 is a valid and responsive disease-specific health-related quality of life instrument for studies of patients with motor neuron diseases. (SLD)

Compared three developmental stage scoring systems in analyzing judgment interviews with 209 children and adults. Scoring systems were: (1) the Standard Issue Scoring System (A. Colby and L. Kohlberg, 1987); (2) the Good Life Scoring System (C. Armon, 1984); and (3) the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (M. Commons and others, 2000).…

Conducted a Rasch analysis of the psychometric qualities of the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP; G. Girolami and S. Campbell, 1994) for the purpose of reducing the length of the test while maintaining its precision as a measurement device. Using scores from 1,732 tests, the TIMP was reduced to 42 items to form a functional motor scale for…

Developed a measure of severity of mental retardation in adults, the Level of Activity in Profound/severe Mental Retardation, scale using Rasch analysis as a guide to item selection. Results from using the scale to rate 146 adults with mental retardation support the use of the scale for classification of severe and profound retardation. (SLD)

Explored the possibility of developing a common metric for measuring goal orientation by simultaneously calibrating four commonly used goal orientation scales to see if item responses met the unidimensionality requirement. Results for 305 psychology students in France yield a common metric for interpretation and statistical analyses. (SLD)

Undertook two studies (n=113 and n=55) a year apart, to create an instrument that measures nutritional competence and self-efficacy among prospective physicians. Results using Rasch modeling demonstrate the reliability and validity of the scale for assessing mastery of applied nutrition among prospective physicians. (SLD)

Used confirmatory factor analysis to examine whether the two-factor solution to the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (E. Hart, M. Leary, and W. Rejeski, 1989) was meaningful. Results for 4 samples of data for college students, high school students, and athletes (n=1,053) from previous studies support the existence of a single substantive factor…

Describes the source instrument, the database, and the experimental methodology that have been used in developing the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) profiles to allow the comparison of quality of life findings from a variety of cultural settings. Illustrates the precautions necessary in interpreting scores from different…

Developed a questionnaire of 80 self-report items to measure student approaches to study in higher education, attempting to create a scale and study it with a Rasch measurement model. Results for 350 Australian college students supported the conceptual structure of the scale as involving studying attitudes and behaviors toward the identified five…