Perception of Parental Reciprocity Scale (POPRS): Development and Validation with Adolescents and Young Adults

The present paper describes the development of a new scale, the Perception of Parental Reciprocity Scale (POPRS), and research findings obtained with this instrument. Based on Youniss' (1980) theory, this scale assesses the extent of perceived mutual reciprocity in adolescents'/young adults' relations with their parents. An initial pool of 51 items was administered to 141 unmarried undergraduates along with measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and consultant choice to indicate construct validity. Item analyses and reliability procedures produced a 43-item scale. A second study of 1602 students between the ages of 13 and 25 examined further issues: cross-replication, cross-validation, reliability with young adolescents, reliability over time, criterion and construct validity, and age-related differences in scores. In addition to POPRS and the scales used in Study 1, measures included three global statements, attachment to parents, attitude to private personal authority, and scores on an open-ended interview. Results from both studies demonstrated high reliability, and construct and criterion validity. Furthermore, a significant age effect supports Youniss' theory of a developmental transformation in parent-child relations beginning in late adolescence and continuing in early adulthood.     

Improving Scientists'Judgments of Risk

Scientists disagree in their risk analyses because they use intuitive judgments to generalize results from the laboratory to circumstances not yet studied. If this assertion is correct, techniques intended to reduce intuitive judgments and increase analytical cognition should reduce scientific dispute. The results of a test case involving allegedly high risk and sharp dispute among scientists are described.     

The effect of unequal priors and unequal misclassification costs on MDA

Multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) is a frequently used statistical technique. Although the dependence of this technique on the underlying assumptions concerning population priors and misclassification costs is well known, the assumption most often made by researchers is that both population priors and misclassification costs are equal. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the magnitude of the effect of these assumptions on statistical results. In the savings and loan case used here, the population priors are known:however, the relative misclassification costs are not. To test the sensitivity of the results to the unknown misclassification costs several different misclassification cost assumptions are used.     

Estimation of Human Reproductive Risk from Animal Studies: Determination of Interspecies Extrapolation Factors for Steroid Hormone Effects on the Male

The problem of extrapolating effects of reproductive toxins on experimental animals to predict the doses that would produce infertility in human males is discussed using published data on effects of testosterone and estradiol on sperm production in the rat, rabbit, rhesus monkey, ram, stallion, and humans. This analysis indicates that calculation of the dose of testosterone that reduces human sperm counts by a given percentage is best done using the dose administered to laboratory animals expressed on the basis of body weight, as opposed to some other parameter such as body surface area. A survey of the available data in the literature indicates the incompleteness of the data set and the specific information needed to improve the basis for extrapolation. Nevertheless, we can predict from studies on laboratory animals the dose of testosterone necessary to reduce sperm counts in humans within a factor of 2.     

Forward and Backward Recurrence Times and Length Biased Sampling: Age Specific Models

Consider a chronic disease process which is beginning to be observed at a point in chronological time. The backward recurrence and forward recurrence times are defined for prevalent cases as the time with disease and the time to leave the disease state, respectively, where the reference point is the point in time at which the disease process is being observed. In this setting the incidence of disease affects the recurrence time distributions. In addition, the survival of prevalent cases will tend to be greater than the population with disease due to length biased sampling. A similar problem arises in models for the early detection of disease. In this case the backward recurrence time is how long an individual has had disease before detection and the forward recurrence time is the time gained by early diagnosis, i.e., until the disease becomes clinical by exhibiting signs or symptoms. In these examples the incidence of disease may be age related resulting in a non-stationary process. The resulting recurrence time distributions are derived as well as some generalization of length-biased sampling.     

Examination of computer task exposures in radiologists: a work systems approach

Radiologists are intensive computer users as they review and interpret radiological examinations using the Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). Since their computer tasks require the prolonged use of pointing devices, a high prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) is reported. The first phase of this study involved conducting a Cognitive Work Analysis in conjunction with a Participatory Ergonomics approach to perform a total work system analysis. We also conducted an ergonomic survey as well as collected computer use data, specifically for the mouse and keyboard. The goal of the study was to reduce the physical exposures for radiologists. This paper presents Phase I results describing the analyses and redesign process of the radiologists tasks, training design, computer use, and selected survey results.