Intimate opposition: Perceived closeness as a moderator of the impact of third-party opposition on romantic relationships [abstract]

Abstract only availableFaculty Mentor: Dr. Colleen Sinclair, PsychologyResearch has examined how third parties (e.g. parent-child relationships and peer relationships) affect the quality of romantic relationships. For instance, a pair of studies investigated the "Romeo & Juliet effect," to see whether parental disapproval of a child's romantic partner results in pushing the child closer to his/her love interest. A study by Driscoll & colleagues (1972) found that feelings of romantic love were intensified by parental disapproval. Yet, a more recent study by Sprecher & Felmlee (1992) found the complete opposite results, finding that romantic relationships without social support were likely to fail. Neither of these studies, however, examined how closeness with a disapproving friend or parent might moderate the effects of their disapproval. For example, if an adolescent did not feel close to his/her parent - as was the case in the story of Romeo and Juliet - s/he might be less likely to yield to his/her parent's opinion and might instead be driven to rebel against it. Consequently, we examined whether the impact of a disapproving party's opinion depends upon the closeness between the disapproving party and the adolescent in the romantic relationship. To examine the role of closeness, participants completed a survey asking about the degree of disapproval from friends and family, as well as degree of closeness to friend, family member and romantic partner. We found that degree of parental disapproval did negatively affect relationship closeness and love for partner, and that this effect was strengthened the closer the participant reported being to their parent

Examining the consequences of stalking misconceptions

Abstract only availableIt has been proven through previous research that stalking is a form of intimate violence. It is possible that by researching other forms of intimate violence, such as rape, we can come to gain a better understanding of stalking, particularly in our legal system. By following the example of rape myth literature, and previous studies on rape myths, we produce a starting point and a guide by which to follow. It is first necessary to build a scale to assess the stereotypes that people have about stalking. Our first study did this by creating the Stalking Myth Scale, a reliable and valid scale that yielded a reliability of 0.80, and correlated, as expected, with five other measures of intimate violence. We then used this scale, along with four other measures to examine the extent to which stalking myths were an acceptable predictor of case severity, sentencing, victim blaming, and perpetrator responsibility. We hypothesized that the endorsement of stalking myths would result in a minimization of case severity, lower sentencing, more victim blaming, and reduced perceptions of perpetrator responsibility. A scenario experiment was run, varying the gender of perpetrator and victim, and the type of victim-perpetrator relationship (stranger or intimate). Through this study our hypothesis was proven. It was found that endorsement of stalking myths was a significant predictor of all four variables (case severity, sentencing, victim blaming, and perpetrator responsibility).Louis Stokes Missouri Alliance for Minority Participatio

Data from: Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science

This record contains the underlying research data for the publication "Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science" and the full-text is available from: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5257Reproducibility is a defining feature of science, but the extent to which it characterizes current research is unknown. We conducted replications of 100 experimental and correlational studies published in three psychology journals using high-powered designs and original materials when available. Replication effects were half the magnitude of original effects, representing a substantial decline. Ninety-seven percent of original studies had statistically significant results. Thirty-six percent of replications had statistically significant results; 47% of original effect sizes were in the 95% confidence interval of the replication effect size; 39% of effects were subjectively rated to have replicated the original result; and if no bias in original results is assumed, combining original and replication results left 68% with statistically significant effects. Correlational tests suggest that replication success was better predicted by the strength of original evidence than by characteristics of the original and replication teams

Enhanced interpretation of newborn screening results without analyte cutoff values

A collaboration among 157 newborn screening programs in 47 countries has lead to the creation of a database of 705,333 discrete analyte concentrations from 11,462 cases affected with 57 metabolic disorders, and from 631 heterozygotes for 12 conditions. This evidence was first applied to establish disease ranges for amino acids and acylcarnitines, and clinically validate 114 cutoff target ranges. Objective: To improve quality and performance with an evidence-based approach, multivariate pattern recognition software has been developed to aid in the interpretation of complex analyte profiles. The software generates tools that convert multiple clinically significant results into a single numerical score based on overlap between normal and disease ranges, penetration within the disease range, differences between specific conditions, and weighted correction factors. Design: Eighty-five on-line tools target either a single condition or the differential diagnosis between two or more conditions. Scores are expressed as a numerical value and as the percentile rank among all cases with the condition chosen as primary target, and are compared to interpretation guidelines. Tools are updated automatically after any new data submission (2009- 2011: 5.2 new cases added per day on average). Main outcome measures: Retrospective evaluation of past cases suggest that these tools could have avoided at least half of 277 false positive outcomes caused by carrier status for fatty acid oxidation disorders, and could have prevented 88% of false negative events caused by cutoff 7 values set inappropriately. In Minnesota, their prospective application has been a major contributing factor to the sustained achievement of a false positive rate below 0.1% and a positive predictive value above 60%. Conclusions: Application of this computational approach to raw data could make cutoff values for single analytes effectively obsolete. This paradigm is not limited to newborn screening and is applicable to the interpretation of diverse multi-analyte profiles utilized in laboratory medicine. Abstract wor