Ronald L. Nuttall

Mediators of Gender Differences in Mathematics College Entrance Test Scores: A Comparison of Spatial Skills with Internalized Beliefs and Anxieties.

This study was designed to investigate whether spatial skill, math anxiety, and math self-confidence functioned as mediators of a significant gender difference in the Mathematics Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT-M) among the top third of a college-bound sample. Using path analytic techniques, the decomposition of the significant gender-SAT-M correlation into direct and indirect effects indicated that there were no direct effects of gender on SAT-M. Mental rotation and math self-confidence showed indirect effects, mediating the gender-SAT-M relationship; math anxiety did not. Of these indirect effects, 36% was mediated by math self-confidence; 64% by mental rotation. For both these variables, most of the mediational effects of the gender-SAT-M relationship did not occur by way of the causal pathway leading through geometry grades. Thus, the mediational effects cannot simply be attributed to the presence of geometry items on the SAT-M or to math self-confidence acquired during prior geometry coursework.

Relationship of psychosocial factors to smoking behavior change in an intervention program

Abstract The relationship of stress and the “psychosocial assets” of adjustment, belief in personal control, and social support to the modification of smoking behavior was studied in a sample of 169 male smokers, aged 35 to 57, enrolled in a heart attack prevention program. Smokers were categorized as Continuing Successes, Recidivists, or Nonstoppers, depending on whether they stopped smoking and maintained cessation, stopped smoking and relapsed, or never stopped during the initial intervention phase. The participants were followed for 2 years. Variations in the following factors were used to significantly discriminate among the groups of smokers: stress, security, social support, number of cigarettes smoked at baseline and when smoking heaviest, and measures of belief in personal control. Discriminant function analysis demonstrated that the likelihood of being a Continuing Success is increased when there are, in combination (in decreasing order of importance): a high expectation of success; few cigarettes smoked upon entry into the program; low stress; ease of prior cessation attempts; a long period of prior abstinence; and a high degree of personal security. The results suggest that it is possible to predict which participants in a smoking control program will have problems with cessation and maintenance of cessation; and that smoking control programs can target intervention toward specific individual needs.

Spatial ability as a predictor of math achievement: the importance of sex and handedness patterns.

In accordance with major theories of handedness and brain organization, differential predictors for math achievement were found as a function of sex and handedness subgroups among eighth graders. Although there was no difference in absolute levels of performance as a function of either sex or handedness, predictive structures did differ. Regression analyses showed that spatial ability predicts math achievement for: (1) girls with anomalous dominance (non-right-handers and right-handers with non-right-handed relatives), and (2) all boys (independent of handedness group). In contrast, for the standard dominance girls who are right-handed with all right-handed relatives (considered strongly left-hemisphere dominant for language), spatial ability did not predict for math achievement. These findings occurred, even when scholastic aptitude and verbal achievement factors were controlled. It was concluded that further studies of sex differences in math achievement should consider subgroup differences within the sexes, based on handedness patterns.

Traumatic brain injury: A hidden consequence for battered women

The inability of substantial numbers of battered women to terminate or extricate themselves from violent relationships is of grave concern to clinical practitioners. Despite professional intervention, many victims of domestic violence return to the batterer and to repetitive battering, demonstrating that, for these women, traditional psychosocial interventions are ineffective. In a sample of 53 battered women, 92% reported having received blows to the head in the course of their battering; 40% reported loss of consciousness. Correlations between frequency of being hit in the head and severity of cognitive symptoms were significant, strongly suggesting that battered women should be routinely screened for traumatic brain injury and postconcussive syndrome. Development of treatment strategies to address the potentially damaging sequelae of head trauma in this population is essential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Personal history of childhood abuse among clinicians

We conducted a survey to determine the prevalence, characteristics, and effects of a history of childhood sexual and physical abuse among professionals responsible for evaluating child sexual abuse allegations. A gender-stratified random sample of 1,635 United States clinicians was drawn from the most current national directories of clinical social work, pediatrics, psychiatry, and psychology. We received 656 completed questionnaires, yielding a 42% response rate. Thirteen percent of the men and 20% of the women reported a personal history of childhood sexual abuse; 7.3% of the men and 6.9% of the women reported a history of physical abuse as children. The modal age at which both genders were sexually abused was 8 years. The modal age at the time of physical abuse was 10 years for both sexes. Of those sexually abused, 50% of both genders were sexually abused for only 1 year. Of those physically abused, more than 50% of both genders were physically abused for 3 or more years. Older females were more likely to report a history of sexual abuse than were their younger cohorts. In this population, physical abuse was overwhelmingly perpetrated by parents. However, the modal perpetrators of sexual abuse (for both females and males) were male acquaintances or male strangers. Fathers and stepfathers were unlikely to be perpetrators of sexual abuse (3% for males and 12% for females) in this sample. For both genders, particularly males, sexually abused respondents were less likely to be married than their nonabused cohorts. Both men and women who had been sexually abused were more likely to be in nonmarital relationships than were those who had not been sexually abused. Women who had been sexually abused were less likely to have raised children than were women who had not been sexually abused. Respondents who had been sexually abused and/or physically abused were more likely to believe allegations of sexual abuse contained in 16 vignettes alleging sexual abuse.

A Causal Model Analysis of Bloom’s Taxonomy

The causal model approach used in this study tested the cumulative hierarchical structure of the six major taxonomic levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy by measuring the strengths of the linear relationships (“links”) between levels. The assumed hierarchy should have direct links between adjacent levels and should have no indirect links between nonadjacent levels. The magnitude of these direct and indirect links was measured by constructing a causal model using multiple regression procedures. A parallel causal model method of analysis was used for determining the effect of introducing a “g” factor of general ability into the causal flow of the taxonomic structure. The results of the study suggest that both the direct and indirect causal links of the cumulative hierarchical taxonomic structure are extremely dependent on a “g” factor.

Evidence in support of a model that predicts how biological and environmental factors interact to influence spatial skills

It was proposed, based on M. Annett (1985), that individuals biologically predisposed to poorer spatial skills are less likely to capitalize on opportunities to develop these skills. Using an analysis of variance design assessing mental rotation skills in 2 cohorts of 8th graders (365 students), the authors found a significant 3-way interaction (Brothers x Family Handedness x Gender). For the girls with brothers, those from all right-handed families had lower mental rotation scores than did the other girls. For the 2nd cohort, among those children who participated in mental-rotation-type activities with their brothers, both boys and girls from all right-handed families performed more poorly on the mental rotation test than did the other children with brothers. Thus, compared with other children, the children from all right-handed families do not appear to be able to use their spatial experiences with male siblings to increase their spatial skills.

The impact of war on the mental health of children: a Salvadoran study

OBJECTIVE This ecologically conceptualized, intensive study assesses the mental health impact of the Salvadoran Civil War on 54 12-year-olds, born into the war, exposed to different levels of war violence. METHODS Half of the students came from a repopulated country village and half from an industrial neighborhood near the capital city. Children, their mothers or caretakers, and their teachers responded to interviews and some instruments. RESULTS Children from the repopulated village reported higher war experience and lower mental health. The personal/social impact of the war was more important than family togetherness or war intensity in determining the mental health of the children. Childrens intelligence was highly related to surviving with higher mental health. Higher socioeconomic status (SES) and education of parents was related to better mental health. Controlling for intelligence, children who experienced the highest personal-social impact of war showed the poorest mental health. Children with high war experience were most likely to have difficulty in imagining the future. CONCLUSIONS Intelligence and the foreshortening of future vision are variables that should be controlled for and investigated in outcome studies of trauma. Treatment for survivors should include aid in planning for the future.

Differences in feminine and masculine characteristics in women as a function of handedness: Support for the Geschwind/Galaburda theory of brain organization

The Geschwind/Galaburda testosterone theory successfully predicted differences in feminine sex role identification and behavior between women with anomalous dominance and standard dominance. The women with anomalous dominance (consisting of left-handed and ambidextrous as well as right-handed women with first-degree non-right-handed relatives) were compared to women with standard dominance (right-handed women with all right-handed first-degree relatives) on the Bem Test of Sex Role Identity and a tomboy scale. Across three samples, handedness classifications were related to both tomboy characteristics and sex role identification. In addition, the study showed that the anomalous dominance women had a higher masculine sex role identification as compared to the college normative sample for the Bem, while the standard dominance women had a higher feminine identification than the normative sample.

The Effect of Writing Chinese Characters on Success on the Water-Level Task

This study examined why Chinese undergraduates performed better on an eight-item water-level task (WLT) than did American undergraduates. Based on cognitive developmental theory, it was hypothesized that ability to write Chinese characters may facilitate performance on the WLT. This hypothesis was tested along with an additional hypothesis that extensive training in mathematics, especially geometry, facilitates WLT performance. The participants were three groups of Chinese undergraduates: 295 native writers of Chinese from Beijing, China; 49 Chinese American writers of Chinese; and 129 Chinese Americans who could not write Chinese. Results suggest that the combined effect of writing Chinese and strong math training contribute significantly (p < .01) to skills necessary to master WLT. Among Chinese Americans, the effect of writing Chinese is significant for males (p < .05) but not for females. Scholastic Aptitude Test math score has a significant correlation (p < .001) with success on WLT.