Deborah A. Kashy

Estimating Actor, Partner, and Interaction Effects for Dyadic Data Using PROC MIXED and HLM: A User–Friendly Guide

Data collected from both members of a dyad provide abundant opportunities as well as data analytic challenges. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kashy & Kenny, 2000) was developed as a conceptual framework for collecting and analyzing dyadic data, primarily by stressing the importance of considering the interdependence that exists between dyad members. The goal of this paper is to detail how the APIM can be implemented in dyadic research, and how its effects can be estimated using hierarchical linear modeling, including PROC MIXED in SAS and HLM (version 5.04; Raudenbush, Bryk, Cheong, & Congdon, 2001). The paper describes the APIM and illustrates how the data set must be structured to use the data analytic methods proposed. It also presents the syntax needed to estimate the model, indicates how several types of interactions can be tested, and describes how the output can be interpreted.

Perceptions of conflict and support in romantic relationships: the role of attachment anxiety.

Guided by attachment theory, a 2-part study was conducted to test how perceptions of relationship-based conflict and support are associated with relationship satisfaction/closeness and future quality. Dating partners completed diaries for 14 days (Part 1) and then were videotaped while discussing a major problem that occurred during the diary study (Part 2). Part 1 reveals that more anxiously attached individuals perceived more conflict with their dating partners and reported a tendency for conflicts to escalate in severity. Perceptions of daily relationship-based conflicts negatively impacted the perceived satisfaction/closeness and relationship futures of highly anxious individuals, whereas perceptions of greater daily support had positive effects. Part 2 reveals that highly anxious individuals appeared more distressed and escalated the severity of conflicts (rated by observers) and reported feeling more distressed. The authors discuss the unique features of attachment anxiety and how changing perceptions of relationship satisfaction/closeness and stability could erode commitment over time.

Everyday lies in close and casual relationships.

In 2 diary studies, 77 undergraduates and 70 community members recorded their social interactions and lies for a week. Because lying violates the openness and authenticity that people value in their close relationships, we predicted (and found) that participants would tell fewer lies per social interaction to the people to whom they felt closer and would feel more uncomfortable when they did lie to those people. Because altruistic lies can communicate caring, we also predicted (and found) that relatively more of the lies told to best friends and friends would be altruistic than self-serving, whereas the reverse would be true of lies told to acquaintances and strangers. Also consistent with predictions, lies told to closer partners were more often discovered.

What Does the Narcissistic Personality Inventory Really Measure

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is a widely used measure of narcissism. However, debates persist about its exact factor structure with researchers proposing solutions ranging from two to seven factors. The present research aimed to clarify the factor structure of the NPI and further illuminate its nomological network. Four studies provided support for a three-factor model consisting of the dimensions of Leadership/Authority, Grandiose Exhibitionism, and Entitlement/Exploitativeness. The Leadership/Authority dimension was generally linked to adaptive outcomes whereas the other two dimensions, particularly Entitlement/Exploitativeness, were generally linked to maladaptive outcomes. These results suggest that researchers interested in the psychological and behavioral outcomes associated with the NPI should examine correlates at the facet level. In light of the findings, we propose a hierarchical model for the structure of the NPI and provide researchers with a scoring scheme for this commonly used instrument.

Predicting student performance: an application of data mining methods with an educational Web-based system

Newly developed Web-based educational technologies offer researchers unique opportunities to study how students learn and what approaches to learning lead to success. Web-based systems routinely collect vast quantities of data on user patterns, and data mining methods can be applied to these databases. This paper presents an approach to classifying students in order to predict their final grade based on features extracted from logged data in an education Web-based system. We design, implement, and evaluate a series of pattern classifiers and compare their performance on an online course dataset. A combination of multiple classifiers leads to a significant improvement in classification performance. Furthermore, by learning an appropriate weighting of the features used via a genetic algorithm (GA), we further improve prediction accuracy. The GA is demonstrated to successfully improve the accuracy of combined classifier performance, about 10 to 12% when comparing to non-GA classifier. This method may be of considerable usefulness in identifying students at risk early, especially in very large classes, and allow the instructor to provide appropriate advising in a timely manner.

Ideal Standards, the Self, and Flexibility of Ideals in Close Relationships

Two studies tested how romantic ideal standards and their flexibility are associated with relationship quality. In Study 1, individuals rated themselves and their ideal romantic partners on three dimensions: warmth/trustworthiness, vitality/attractiveness, and status/resources. They then reported how flexible their ideals were on each dimension and how closely their current partner matched their ideal standards. Individuals who rated themselves higher on each dimension held higher ideal standards that were less flexible and perceived higher relationship quality the more their partners matched their ideals. This latter effect was moderated by the flexibility of ideals on two dimensions—warmth/trustworthiness and status/resources. In Study 2, members of dating couples reported their ideals, how closely their partners matched their ideals, and their flexibility. People were happier the more they matched their partners’ ideals. Partner discrepancy ratings once again mediated the link between self-perceptions and perceived relationship quality for the warmth/trustworthiness dimension.

Predicting Relationship and Life Satisfaction From Personality in Nationally Representative Samples From Three Countries: The Relative Importance of Actor, Partner, and Similarity Effects

Three very large, nationally representative samples of married couples were used to examine the relative importance of 3 types of personality effects on relationship and life satisfaction: actor effects, partner effects, and similarity effects. Using data sets from Australia (N = 5,278), the United Kingdom (N = 6,554), and Germany (N = 11,418) provided an opportunity to test whether effects replicated across samples. Actor effects accounted for approximately 6% of the variance in relationship satisfaction and between 10% and 15% of the variance in life satisfaction. Partner effects (which were largest for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability) accounted for between 1% and 3% of the variance in relationship satisfaction and between 1% and 2% of the variance in life satisfaction. Couple similarity consistently explained less than .5% of the variance in life and relationship satisfaction after controlling for actor and partner effects.

Gender Stereotypes and the Evaluation of Men and Women in Military Training

The present study investigated perceptions of men and women in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. For both stereotypes and evaluations of individual cadets enrolled in the training program, men more than women were believed to possess the motivation and leadership qualities necessary for effective military performance, whereas women were believed to possess more feminine attributes that impair effective military performance. Because men and women did not differ on objective measures of military performance, the sex-differentiated evaluations of cadets enrolled in training most plausibly reflect the influence of gender stereotypes rather than performance differences between the sexes. Furthermore, integration of women into the corps was associated with more favorable stereotypic judgments of women and did not reveal a backlash against women in this strongly male- dominated setting.

Analysis of Family Research Designs A Model of Interdependence

This article presents both a conceptual model and an analytical method that can be used in the evaluation of round-robin family research data. The general model proposed is a variant of the social relations model (Kenny & La Voie, 1984). This model is used to partition family data into individual, dyadic, and family effects and permits examination of several types of interdependence between family members. At the individual level, actor and partner effects for each family role (mother, for example) can be estimated. At the dyadic level, relationship effects can be estimated; and at the family level, mean differences between families can be estimated. By correlating these different effects across family roles, this technique allows researchers to examine several types of interdependence within families. The analytical method presented is confirmatory factor analysis. Strengths and weaknesses of this model and analytical strategy are discussed.

Attachment orientations and depression: a longitudinal study of new parents.

In this longitudinal study, we followed a large sample of first-time parents (both partners) across the first 2 years of the transition to parenthood. Guided by attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), we tested several predictions about how attachment anxiety and avoidance are related to the incidence, maintenance, increase, and decline of depressive symptoms in both sexes across the first 2 years of the transition. We found that (a) the association between attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to the marital and/or romantic relationship; (b) the association between avoidance and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to family responsibilities; (c) styles of caregiving provided by romantic partners affected depressive symptoms differently among anxious and avoidant persons; and (d) in certain predictable situations, depressive symptoms persisted at higher levels or increased to higher levels in anxious or avoidant persons across the 2-year transition period. Important implications of these results are discussed.