Mark D. Shermis

Anxiety sensitivity: Unitary personality trait or domain-specific appraisals?

Abstract We tested the hypothesis that the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) measures a unitary personality variable. College students ( N = 840) were administered the ASI along with a questionnaire assessing panic and anxiety symptomatology. The ASI demonstrated adequate internal reliability (α = .82) and showed modest discrimination on two of three anxiety disorder indices (i.e., anxiety medication usage and panic history). Results of a principal components analysis with varimax rotation revealed a four-factor solution which explained 53.5% of the total variance. Our findings seriously challenge previous claims that the ASI measures a single factor. Rather, our data suggest that the ASI measures several loosely-related cognitive appraisal domains concerned with the anticipated negative consequences of anxiety. The four factors that emerged from our analysis were (a) concern about physical sensations, (b) concern about mental/cognitive incapacitation, (c) concern about loss of control, and (d) concern about heart/lung failure. It is concluded that the ASI is a convenient and reliable instrument for assessing perceived physical consequences of anxiety but that the instrument is lacking in its coverage of anxiety consequences related to social concerns. Implications of the findings for treatment are discussed.

Trait Ratings for Automated Essay Grading

This study employed an automated grader to evaluate essays, both holistically and with the rating of traits (content, organization, style, mechanics, and creativity) for Webbased student essays serving as placement tests at a large Midwestern university. The authors report the results of two combined experiments, based on random selection from 1,193 essays. In the first experiment, the essays of 807 students were used to create statistical predictions for the essay-grading software. In the second experiment, the ratings from a separate, random sample of 386 essays were used to compare the ratings of six human judges against those generated by the computer. The interjudge correlation of the human raters alone was r = .71. But the interrater reliability of all six judges in combination with computer scoring reached .83. The essay-grading software was an efficient means for evaluating the essays, with a capacity for grading approximately six documents every second. Other potential feedback measures for use in writing courses are also discussed.

Assessing Behavioral Responses to Stress.

This paper advocates the use of a stress paradigm in the assessment of children with behavior disorders. The paradigm suggests that one element of an assessment should be the behavioral pattern that the child is likely to adopt in response to stress. The Stress Response Scale, designed to assess such behavioral patterns, is presented and discussed. In order to extend the scales clinical utility, it was necessary to obtain data on the behavioral patterns that might typically be expected to be found with children in general. Data are presented which describes the most frequently found patterns among a population of school-aged children.

Cross-National Invariance of Children's Temperament.

Measurement of temperament is an important endeavor with international appeal; however, cross-national invariance (i.e., equivalence of test scores across countries as established by empirical comparisons) of temperament tests has not been established in published research. This study examines the cross-national invariance of school-aged childrens temperament styles as measured by the Student Styles Questionnaire (SSQ). Development of the SSQ was based on Jungs theory of temperament as augmented by Myers and Briggs. A four bipolar dimension model provided an excellent fit for Australian, Chinese, Costa Rican, Philippine, United States, and Zimbabwean samples and modest fit for Gaza (Palestinian) and Nigerian samples. This study provides partial support for the conclusion that the structure of school-age childrens temperament as measured by the SSQ transcends differences in languages and cultures.

Multitrait-Multimethod Analysis of FCAT Reading and Writing: Or Is It Writing and Reading?.

This study investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of the high-stakes Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in both reading and writing at grade levels 4, 8, and 10. The data from the 2006 FCAT administration were analyzed via traditional multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analysis to identify the factor structure and structural equation models (SEMs), to determine the weights of the influential variables underlying the tests. The MTMM analyses suggested that across all grade levels, the correlation between the multiple-choice reading and multiple-choice writing tests of the FCAT approached the reliability coefficients for each test separately. These correlations were higher than the correlations between the multiple choice and performance sections for each trait. The SEM analyses, however, provided support for both the convergent and discriminant validity of the test scores. The fit for the SEMs improved from a CFI of .84 for 4th graders (a poor fit) to .97 for 10th-grade students.

Teacher Perceptions of Differences Among Elementary Students With and Without Learning Disabilities in Referred Samples

Current referral and identification procedures for students with learning disabilities (LD) have been criticized on conceptual and procedural dimensions, including difficulties in operationalizing the definition and in making eligibility decisions that are data based. Recognizing these difficulties, the Texas Education Agency appointed a task force to examine various issues associated with the identification, assessment, and programming of students with LD. Task force members recognized the need to identify classroom behaviors that differentiate students with LD from their non disabled peers. Two scales of 83 items each were devised and piloted in 70 school districts. Five significant factors or subscales were identified through discriminant factor analyses. Two subscales and 18 individual items discriminate students later classified as LD and those referred but not subsequently classified as LD. Results are discussed, with implications for further investigation of behaviors that distinguish students with and without LD.

The need-threat analysis: A scoring system for the Children's Apperception Test.

The study of childhood stress provides a useful perspective for assessing childrens emotional status. Thematic projective techniques, like the Childrens Apperception Test (CAT), may be useful in exploring childrens perception of stress. For this purpose, a need-threat analysis is recommended to identify those underlying needs and threats that are likely to make a particular event or situation important, and hence potentially stressful, to an individual child. This paper introduces a scoring system for the CAT based on the analysis of thematic data in terms of five need-threat binaries, which serve as scoring categories. Preliminary data on reliability are presented.

An Extension of the Norms for the Stress Response Scale for Children

This article reports an attempt to develop experimental norms on the Stress Response Scale (SRS) for adolescents aged 15 to 18 years. The SRS is a 40-item behavior rating scale designed to measure the impact of stress on the childs behavioral adjustment and to provide scores for five subscales: Acting Out, Passive-Aggressive, Overactive, Dependent, and Repressed. Subjects (N = 167) were selected randomly from a central Texas high school, and ratings on the SRS for each child were provided by a parent along with demographic information. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis replicated three of the five SRS subscales, x2(474) = 1721.23, p < .05. Two of the scales (Repressed and Dependent) did not fit well with the older children although the overall GFI was .88, an indication of a fair fit. While the original factor structure was not replicated entirely, there was enough of a relationship to proceed with establishing experimental norms for the older age group. These norms have potential utility for both research and clinical purposes.