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Behavior rating scales are frequently used assessment tools designed to measure social skills. Use of norm-referenced assessments such as behavior rating scales requires examiners and test publishers to consider when norms become obsolete and norm-referenced scores can no longer be validly interpreted. A fundamental factor influencing norm obsolescence regards changes in baseline levels of targeted traits within the population. Yet, limited research exists regarding how social skills may change at a population level over time as measured by established assessment tools. Thus, the present study investigates population trends in social skills of K-12 children as rated by parents, teachers, and students by concordantly linking the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; nparent = 833, nteacher = 1215, nstudent = 4105) and the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS; nparent = 2400, nteacher = 750, nstudent = 800) using validity samples collected during the development of the SSIS-RS (nparent = 240, nteacher = 221, nstudent = 224). Analyses evaluated differences between ratings on the standardization data from 1988 and 2007 by informant, sex, grade level, and sex by grade level. After applying linear linking techniques, we conducted a series of statistical comparisons that revealed a general upward trend of ratings for the 2007 sample compared to the 1988 sample, with important differences across sex, grade level, and informant. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for consideration and assessment of children's social skills.

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Social desirability bias (SDB) has been a major concern in educational and psychological assessments when measuring latent variables because it has the potential to introduce measurement error and bias in assessments. Person-fit indices can detect bias in the form of misfitted response vectors. The objective of this study was to compare the performance of 14 person-fit indices to identify SDB in simulated responses. The area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was computed to evaluate the predictive power of these statistics. The findings showed that the agreement statistic (A) outperformed all other person-fit indices, while the disagreement statistic (D), dependability statistic (E), and the number of Guttman errors (G) also demonstrated high AUCs to detect SDB. Recommendations for practitioners to use these fit indices are provided.

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BACKGROUND: Despite experiencing many adversities, American Indian and Alaska Native populations have demonstrated tremendous resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing upon Indigenous determinants of health (IDOH) and Indigenous Nation Building. OBJECTIVE: Our multidisciplinary team undertook this study to achieve two aims: (1) to determine the role of IDOH in tribal government policy and action that supports Indigenous mental health and well-being and, in turn, resilience during the COVID-19 crisis and (2) to document the impact of IDOH on Indigenous mental health, well-being, and resilience of 4 community groups, specifically first responders, educators, traditional knowledge holders and practitioners, and members of the substance use recovery community, working in or near 3 Native nations in Arizona. METHODS: To guide this study, we developed a conceptual framework based on IDOH, Indigenous Nation Building, and concepts of Indigenous mental well-being and resilience. The research process was guided by the Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics (CARE) principles for Indigenous Data Governance to honor tribal and data sovereignty. Data were collected through a multimethods research design, including interviews, talking circles, asset mapping, and coding of executive orders. Special attention was placed on the assets and culturally, socially, and geographically distinct features of each Native nation and the communities within them. Our study was unique in that our research team consisted predominantly of Indigenous scholars and community researchers representing at least 8 tribal communities and nations in the United States. The members of the team, regardless of whether they identified themselves as Indigenous or non-Indigenous, have many collective years of experience working with Indigenous Peoples, which ensures that the approach is culturally respectful and appropriate. RESULTS: The number of participants enrolled in this study was 105 adults, with 92 individuals interviewed and 13 individuals engaged in 4 talking circles. Because of time constraints, the team elected to host talking circles with only 1 nation, with participants ranging from 2 to 6 in each group. Currently, we are in the process of conducting a qualitative analysis of the transcribed narratives from interviews, talking circles, and executive orders. These processes and outcomes will be described in future studies. CONCLUSIONS: This community-engaged study lays the groundwork for future studies addressing Indigenous mental health, well-being, and resilience. Findings from this study will be shared through presentations and publications with larger Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences, including local recovery groups, treatment centers, and individuals in recovery; K-12 and higher education educators and administrators; directors of first responder agencies; traditional medicine practitioners; and elected community leaders. The findings will also be used to produce well-being and resilience education materials, in-service training sessions, and future recommendations for stakeholder organizations. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/44727.

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This paper explores how Indigenous-led research reframes the impacts and response to environmental disasters in the context of acid mine spills in rural communities of the Southwest United States. The collaborative research project addressing the Gold King Mine Spill (GKMS) designed qualitative methodologies that center Indigenous worldviews and contribute to broader understandings of environmental justice. The research team, led by Diné scholars and community leaders, gathered qualitative responses from 123 adult participants in twelve focus groups from three rural communities on the Navajo Nation. The project incorporated fluent Diné speakers and cultural consultants to lead focus groups in a manner consistent with cultural worldviews. The analysis of the focus group data resulted in original findings that reframe previous understandings of environmental harm by broadening the boundaries to include: 1) social relations across time; 2) social relations across space; 3) spiritual relations; and 4) restoring balance. The findings allow for greater insight into the colonial context of disaster on rural and Indigenous lands and confronts colonial-rooted disasters through Indigenous-informed political action.

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The unstructured multiple-attempt (MA) item response data in virtual learning environments (VLEs) are often from student-selected assessment data sets, which include missing data, single-attempt responses, multiple-attempt responses, and unknown growth ability across attempts, leading to a complex and complicated scenario for using this kind of data set as a whole in the practice of educational measurement. It is critical that methods be available for measuring ability from VLE data to improve VLE systems, monitor student progress in instructional settings, and conduct educational research. The purpose of this study is to explore the ability recovery of the multidimensional sequential 2-PL IRT model in unstructured MA data from VLEs. We conduct a simulation study to evaluate the effects of the magnitude of ability growth and the proportion of students who make two attempts, as well as the moderated effects of sample size, test length, and missingness, on the bias and root mean square error of ability estimates. Results show that the model poses promise for evaluating ability in unstructured VLE data, but that some data conditions can result in biased ability estimates.

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The Gold King Mine Spill (Spill) occurred in August 2015 upstream from Silverton, Colorado and released three million gallons of contaminated water into the Animas River, a tributary to the San Juan River that flows across the Navajo Nation. Using principles of community-engaged research, the Gold King Mine Spill Diné Exposure Project co-developed a culturally anchored approach to conduct focus groups and analyze narratives collected in three Diné (Navajo) communities along the San Juan River within 9 months of the Spill. Focus group questions were designed to document the socio-cultural impacts of the Spill. This paper: (1) outlines the partnerships and approvals; (2) describes focus group design, training, data collection and analysis; and (3) reflects on the use of a culturally anchored approach in Indigenous, specifically Diné-centered research. Diné social and cultural etiquette and concepts of relationality were used to adapt standard (non-Indigenous) qualitative methods. Findings describe community perceptions of short-term impacts of the disaster, as well as past and present injustices, communication related to the Spill, and concerns of persistent threats to Diné lifeways. The culturally anchored approach was critical in fostering trust with Diné participants and aligned with the candor of the discussions.

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The present study examined the impact of reputation information on athletes' behavioral responses to coaches within a naturalistic, field-based setting. Using a between-group design, male soccer players (n = 35) were assigned to one of three experimental conditions (i.e., experienced reputation, inexperienced reputation, no reputation) prior to taking part in a coaching session delivered by an unknown coach. Participants' behaviors indicative of attention to coach instruction, effort and persistence, and willingness to participate in demonstrations were video recorded throughout the coaching session. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that participants in the experienced reputation condition exhibited significantly greater attention to coach instruction, and greater effort and persistence during free practice than participants in the inexperienced reputation condition. Results related to participants' willingness to participate in demonstrations failed to yield any significant differences. The results provide further evidence to support the contention that athletes use reputation information as a basis for their initial expectancies of coaches, and such expectancies have the potential to influence athletes' behavior during coach-athlete interactions. The findings also indicate that expectancies based on positive information may be more powerful than negatively framed expectancies, and can be harnessed by coaches as a means of developing effective relationships with their athletes.

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INTRODUCTION: Clinical trials often fail to reach desired goals due to poor recruitment outcomes, including low participant turnout, high recruitment cost, or poor representation of minorities. At present, there is limited literature available to guide recruitment methodology. This study, conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI), provides an example of how iterative analysis of recruitment data may be used to optimize recruitment outcomes during ongoing recruitment. STUDY METHODOLOGY: UW-CTRI's research team provided a description of methods used to recruit smokers in two randomized trials (n = 196 and n = 175). The trials targeted low socioeconomic status (SES) smokers and involved time-intensive smoking cessation interventions. Primary recruitment goals were to meet required sample size and provide representative diversity while working with limited funds and limited time. Recruitment data was analyzed repeatedly throughout each study to optimize recruitment outcomes. RESULTS: Estimates of recruitment outcomes based on prior studies on smoking cessation suggested that researchers would be able to recruit 240 low SES smokers within 30 months at a cost of $72,000. With employment of methods described herein, researchers were able to recruit 374 low SES smokers over 30 months at a cost of $36,260. DISCUSSION: Each human subjects study presents unique recruitment challenges with time and cost of recruitment dependent on the sample population and study methodology. Nonetheless, researchers may be able to improve recruitment outcomes though iterative analysis of recruitment data and optimization of recruitment methods throughout the recruitment period.

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The present studies explored the effect of reputational biases on judgments made of coach competence and the visual search patterns adopted by individuals when generating initial impressions and expectations of a target. In study 1, participants (n = 326) observed footage of two coaches prior to making competence judgments of them. All participants viewed similar footage for the first coach (control) but reputational information was manipulated for the second coach (target). In study 2, participants (n = 22) followed the same procedure as study 1 but also wore a head-mounted eye-tracking system to enable visual search data to be collected. Study 1 broadly reported coaches with a "professional" reputation to be judged as being significantly more competent across varying competence measures compared to coaches with either an "in-training" reputation or "no reputation." Study 2 indicated limited differences across the reputational conditions in relation to visual fixations. The data indicate that expectations of coach competence can be influenced, and largely controlled, by the reputational information provided to athletes. While there were limited differences in visual search strategies across reputation conditions, suggestions for research are made to enable a fuller insight to the interpersonal interactions that may facilitate the working association between athletes and coaches.

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The Russian wheat aphid, Diruaphis noxia (Kudjumov) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is globally one of the most devastating pests of wheat, Tritium aestivum L., and barley, Hordeum vulgare L. Host plant resistance is the foundation of cereal insect pest management programs, and several D. noxia resistance (Dn) genes from wheat have been introduced in commercial cultivars of wheat to manage Russian wheat aphid (RWA). Emergence of D. noxia biotype 2 (RWA2) in Colorado has made all known Dn genes, except the Dn7 gene from rye, Secale cereale L., vulnerable and has warranted exploration for sources of resistance to RWA1 and RWA2. Here, we report antibiosis resistance to RWA1 and RWA2 identified in the wheat breeding line KS94H871. Additional experiments indicated that tolerance and antixenosis are not operating in KS94H871. Segregation studies involving F2-derived F3 families indicated that KS94H871 resistance to RWA1 is controlled by one dominant gene and one recessive gene, whereas resistance to RWA2 is controlled by only one dominant gene. This new genetic resource may serve as a good source of resistance in future breeding programs with proper understanding of the genetics of resistance.

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This document presents a revised framework for conducting worker and dietary risk assessments for less-than-lifetime exposures to organophosphate or carbamate pesticides based on red blood cell (RBC) or brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition or the presence of clinical signs and symptoms. The proposals for appropriate uncertainty factors are based on the biological significance of the cholinesterase (ChE) inhibition noted at the lowest-observed-effect level (LOEL) and the degree of uncertainty in the extrapolation between human and animal data. An extensive evaluation of industry data, not previously summarized, and the available literature indicate that the following risk assessment principles are supportable and protective of human health: Plasma ChE inhibition is not an adverse effect, and therefore should not be utilized in risk assessments. Red blood cell AChE is not associated with the nervous system and inhibition is not per se an adverse (neurotoxic) effect. When available, cholinergic effects or brain AChE inhibition data should take precedence over RBC AChE for determining no-observed-effect levels (NOELs). When available, human RBC AChE inhibition or cholinergic effects data should take precedence over animal data for determining NOELs. Due to the lack of adversity associated with inhibition of RBC AChE, the use of a 10-fold (10x) uncertainty factor from the NOEL is adequate when RBC AChE inhibition data from either animal or human studies are used to assess human risk. Due to greater potential for adversity, NOELs for brain AChE inhibition and cholinergic effects identified in animal studies should receive a default uncertainty factor of 100x; lower uncertainty factors may be used on a case-by-case basis. NOELs based on cholinergic effects noted in human studies should only require a 10x uncertainty factor, since an interspecies extrapolation factor from animals to humans is unnecessary. For RBC and brain AChE activity the threshold for defining a NOEL should be less than or equal to 20% difference from control activity in all species. For risk assessment purposes, duration and route of the study should reflect the expected duration and route of exposure for humans (i.e., a 21-d or 28-d dermal study for subchronic occupational dermal exposure assessment). When dermal data are not available, a subchronic oral toxicity study and an appropriate dermal penetration factor should be used. A general default of 10% absorption should be used, analogous to the United Kingdom and German exposure models that are widely used in Europe. The recommendations in this document are generally consistent with current risk assessment procedures used by Canada, the European Community (EC), and the United Kingdom (UK).

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One-fifth of all heart disease-related deaths are due to cigarette smoking. Smoking alone doubles the risk of heart failure. African Americans suffer the highest death rates from smoking among all U.S. population groups. Excess risk of heart disease caused by smoking can be reduced by half after just one year of quitting smoking. Therefore, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research recommends that all patients who smoke be offered smoking cessation treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy, social supports, and skills training to achieve smoking abstinence. Such treatments should also include nutritional counseling and programs of appropriate physical activity. Other strategies to reduce the prevalence of smoking among youth include curtailing marketing efforts that glamorize smoking and strict enforcement of the minimum-age-of-sale laws. With proper nutrition, moderate physical activity, and the cessation of smoking, the risk factors associated with heart disease could be greatly reduced.

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In 1972, Congress passed the National Sickle Cell Disease Control Act which, for the first time, provided authority to establish education, information, screening, testing, counseling, research, and treatment programs. Under the administration of the National Institutes of Health, comprehensive sickle cell research and treatment centers were established and, under the administration of the Health Services Administration, sickle cell screening and education clinics were established. In the following decade (1972-1982), a flurry of activities occurred in all areas relating to sickle cell disease, including research, treatment, development of teaching and educational materials, public awareness campaigns, as well as community participation and community and patient involvement in program development. Major changes took place in legislation, in funding mechanisms for programs, in interaction of the sickle cell disease constituency population with constituency groups devoted to other categorical genetic diseases, and in the emergence of political activism for sickle cell disease programs and patients. The nature of the recent cuts in funding and their effects on sickle cell programs are discussed.

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In fiscal years 1979 and 1980, the Genetic Diseases Service Branch of the Health Services Administration funded 34 state genetic service programs in the United States through monies from the National Genetic Diseases Act (PL 94-278) of 1976. During the two-year period, 131,818 at-risk individuals were provided with genetic counseling. Analyses of amniotic fluid were performed on 42,003 specimens, with 436 abnormal fetuses (1%) detected. Utilization ratios of amniocentesis for advanced maternal age ranged from a low of 5% to a high of 49%. Screening programs for inborn errors of metabolism reported testing 3, 158,521 specimens. The numbers of affected children detected nationally were 195 with phenylketonuria (1:16,000), 536 with hypothyroidism (1:5,900), 25 with galactosemia (1:39,685), eight with maple syrup urine disease (1:86,984), and eight with homocystinuria (1:139,008).

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