David S. Goh

Risk behaviors, self-efficacy, and AIDS prevention among adolescents.

This study was conducted to investigate risk behaviors and AIDS-preventive variables in high school adolescents. One hundred fifty-two students in Grades 10 through 12 were administered an AIDS-related behavior questionnaire and the Attitudes Toward AIDS Scale-High School Version (ATAS-HS; Goh, 1992). The results indicated that use of alcohol was far more common than other risk behaviors among the respondents. Rates of sexual intercourse and intravenous drug use were significantly lower than those reported in other research. Self-efficacy was significantly related to AIDS-preventive behavioral intentions, perceived knowledge, and measured knowledge about AIDS. Because the AIDS-preventive variables functioned differently in their relationships to sexual practices, the correlations suggest a pattern of co-occurrence between specific behavior intentions and actual AIDS-preventive behaviors (i.e., sexual experience, use of condoms). In addition, significant gender and grade differences were found on selected risk behaviors and AIDS-preventive variables.

Appraising Birth Order in Career Assessment: Linkages to Holland's and Super's Models

Adlerian vocational theory proposes that birth order, or psychological position in the family of origin, significantly influences vocational behavior. If so, appraising birth order position may be useful in a career assessment context to enrich an understanding of an individuals occupational interests, values, and vocational personality style. Two exploratory studies examined this potentiality. In Study 1, analysis of variance results indicated significant differences in vocational personality type, occupational interests, and values among three birth-order groups derived from a medical student sample (N = 159). Significant differences in occupational interests among birth-order groups also emerged in Study 2 which used a college student sample (N = 119). Combined, results of the present research lend support to the Adlerian theoretical assertion that birth order determines vocational personality, occupational interest, and values patterns. Birth order represents a salient and viable variable to consider in career assessment and counseling contexts as well as to examine in future research.

The relationship between Holland's theory of vocational interest and Eysenck's model of personality

Abstract Holland (1959, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 6 , 35–45) has stated that his vocational theory is based on an assessment of personality dimensions. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between vocational interest patterns as represented by Hollands model and personality dimensions as represented by Eysencks model. The study tested specific hypotheses concerning the relationship between Hollands vocational personalities and personality dimensions as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). The hypothesized relationships were based on our interpretations of Hollands model and Eysencks theory of personality. The findings indicated there are some low but significant relationships between Eysencks personality dimensions. Horneys theory of interpersonal relations provide one possible interpretation for some of the findings. A significant relationship between Eysencks EPQ and Hollands construct of Differentiation was also found.

Translation and Validation of the Chinese Form of the Strong Interest Inventory

A Chinese form of the 1994 Strong Interest Inventory (SII) was developed through a three-step translation process. The translated version was judged to show linguistic or inferential equivalence to the SII in English. Field-testing data based on two Chinese samples (N1 = 124, N2 = 40) and one American sample (N3 = 52) provided additional support on metric equivalence between the SII and the SII-Chinese. Correlational analysis, paired t-test, and profile analysis consistently demonstrated that the SII and SII-Chinese yielded highly comparable results at all three levels of measurement—General Occupational Themes (GOT), Basic Interest Scales (BIS), and Occupational Scales (OS). Statistically significant difference between the SII and SII-Chinese was found only on one basic scale and two occupational scales in selected male and female subsamples. Factor analysis, using maximum likelihood extraction and oblique rotation, identified six broad occupational interest dimensions on the SII-Chinese: Enterprising (E), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Public (P), Realistic (R), and Social (S). Implications for further adapting the SII-Chinese to better fit the Chinese culture and to be used as an assessment tool in China are discussed. Une version chinoise de l’Inventaire d’Inte´rets de Strong de 1994 (SII) a e´te´ e´labore´e en trois phases. On s’est assure´ que la traduction correspondait bien a` la forme anglaise sur le plan linguistique et renvoyait a` des connotations comparables. Des donne´es recueillies sur le terrain a` partir de deux e´chantillons chinois (N1 7equals; 124; N2= 40) et d’un e´chantillon ame´ricain (N3=52) confirme`rent l’e´quivalence me´trique des deux versions. Un calcul de corre´lations, le t de Student applique´ aux paires d’items et une analyse de profils montre`rent sans ambiguite´ que les SII ame´ricain et chinois fournissaient des re´sultats tre`s proches sur les trois types de mesures: les the`mes professionnels ge´neraux (GOT), les e´chelles d’inte´rets de base (BIS) et les e´chelles professionnelles (OS). Des diffe´rences statistiquement significatives entre les deux versions ne sont apparues que sur une e´chelle de base et sur deux e´chelles professionnelles dans des sous-e´chantillons se´lectionne´s des deux sexes. Une analyse factorielle exploitant l’extraction de probabilite´ maximale et la rotation oblique mit en e´vidence six grandes dimensions d’inte´rets professionnels sur le SII chinois: Entreprenant (E), Investigateur (I), Artiste (A), Civique (P), Re´aliste (R), et Social (S). On examine les proble`mes lie´s a` une meilleure adaptation du SII a` la culture chinoise et a` son utilisation comme outil d’e´valuation.

Factor structure of the strong interest inventory with a Chinese high school sample.

D. S. Goh and J. Yu (2001) translated the Strong Interest Inventory (SII; L. W. Harmon, J-I. Hansen, F. H. Borgen, & A. L. Hammer, 1994) into Chinese and identified a 6-factor structure of the new instrument that showed both similarities and differences with J. L. Hollands personality types (1966, 1985, 1997). The present study was undertaken to further investigate the construct validity of the SII-Chinese for a sample of 247 high school students in China. Confirmatory factor analyses did not find a good fit of the Goh and Yu (2001) model or the Holland hexagonal model to the present data. Exploratory factor analysis extracted a 3-factor solution accounting for 59.2% of the variance. The authors offer interpretations of the obtained factors and discuss implications for the use of the SII-Chinese as an assessment tool.

Clinical utility of the Devereux Behavior Rating Scale—School Form among culturally diverse children

Two hundred sixty-seven children from three ethnic samples (95 Caucasians, 95 African Americans, and 77 Hispanics) were rated by their teachers on the Devereux Behavior Rating Scale-School Form (DSF). The data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate ANOVAs, discriminant analysis, and sensitivity and specificity analysis. Results indicate the DSF has utility in screening children for serious emotional disturbance in the present sample. The findings also suggest that the criterion-related validity of the DSF found for the general population can be generalized to Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic children. In addition, the cutoff score of 1 SD above the mean on the DSF Total scale was found to yield the highest true positive and negative hit rates for the total and Caucasian samples. The optimum cutoff scores were slightly lower for the African American and Hispanic samples. Usefulness and limitation of the DSF as a screening instrument with school children are discussed.

Internal Consistency and Stability of the Attitudes toward AIDS Scale-High School Version

Reliabilities of the Attitudes Toward AIDS Scale-High School Version were estimated for a sample of 170 adolescents. Cronbach alpha of .79 and a stability coefficient of .84 were obtained.

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE APTITUDE-ACHIEVEMENT DISTINCTION '

48 high school students were administered the Arithmetic subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised, the Mathematics subtest of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test—Revised, and the Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test. Correlations, of about .80 among the three tests, were interpreted as supporting a part of the continuum theory of Humphreys, Anastasi, and Cronbach for conceptualizing the distinction between aptitude and achievement tests.