Adjective Rating Scale Research Articles

Measurement of affective states in adults. Evaluation of an adjective rating scale instrument.

A cross-sectional sample of adults, ages 20-79, were administered an adjective rating scale instrument measuring multiple affective states, including items from the Profile of Mood States (POMS) instrument. Confirmatory item factor analysis supported, for the most part, a priori assignments of items to scales based upon prior research, but revealed a few small, additional item factors that were cross-validated in a second sample. Items measuring different aspects of psychological distress, including anxiety and depressive affect, showed appreciable skew and kurtosis, with a substantial proportion of respondents indicating no perceived distress. Items measuring psychological well-being tended to show more normal response distributions. Tests of age-related invariance in item factor structure indicated that the unstandardized factor pattern weights (loadings) were not fully equivalent across two age groups, but showed that the same configuration of items loading on factors was supported. The scales perform well enough to justify continued use in older populations, but further research on the contributions of item distributions to age differences in factor loadings is needed.

The Michill Adjective Ratings Scale (MARS): The differential social desirability of factors

The Michill Adjective Rating Scale (MARS) measures four relatively independent factors (unhappiness, extraversion, self-assertiveness, and productive-persistence) and has been used for studying interpersonal perception and attribution processes in both normal and abnormal populations. Although procedures for administering and scoring MARS, as well as the normative data, are available in published sources, information about the differential social desirability of the factors is being presented here for the first time in order to facilitate the experimental use of MARS in those clinical and psychosocial research settings in which the social desirability of factors has considerable influence on the interpretation and applicability of findings (N = 338).

Bipolar Adjective Rating Scales for Self-Description: Reliability and Validity Data

Bipolar adjective rating scales were constructed to evaluate selected needs from Murray's (1938) theory of personality. Twenty items measuring each of six needs (succorance, autonomy, dominance, social recognition, achievement, and nurturance) were initially developed to provide a preliminary instrument that was administered to 200 individuals. Because of an unacceptably low estimate of internal consistency, the need for succorance was eliminated. For each of the five remaining needs, sets of 12 adjective pairs were selected based on item-total correlations. The resulting 60-item inventory as well as the Personality Research Form (PRF) (Jackson, 1967) scales measuring the same five needs was administered to 254 college students. Internal-consistency estimates of the bipolar adjective measures compared favorably to those of the PRF scales. Examination of the matrix of inter correlations among bipolar and PRF measures (serving as criterion) and consideration of the problems in developing a reliable measure for succorance suggest that certain personality traits are more amenable to valid measurement by bipolar adjective items than are others.

Preliminary Contact With a Mailed Follow-Up Survey

This study examined the effects of preliminary contact by mail and telephone on the rate of response to a follow-up survey offormer mental health patients. The subjects were the par ents or parenting figures of 145 children due for six- or eighteen-month follow-up as part of the evaluation of the services provided at an outpatient child psychiatric facility. The survey instruments were the Child Behavior Checklist and a thirty-one item descriptive adjective rating scale. A significant effect wasfoundfor the use of preliminary contact, but notfor the use of telephone contact rather than mailed precontact. Additionally, it wasfound that it was difficult to contact subjects over the telephone and that telephone precontact was more expensive than mailed precontact. This article also addresses the problem of maintaining patient confidentiality while identifying prospective subjects who had moved since their last visit to the facility for treatment. This balance between study power and former patients' rights to privacy is a difficult question for mental health service evaluations.

CROSS-CULTURAL VALIDATION OF THE MICHILL ADJECTIVE RATING SCALE (MARS)

Data on the Michill Adjective Rating Scale (MARS) were collected from 413 persons in the United States and 353 persons in Pakistan. The Americans were given the English version and the Pakistanis, the Urdu version of the MARS on which each person rated self and several significant others. The Pearson rs among the 48 MARS items were computed separately for the ratings of self, father, mother, worst teacher, and Mao Tsetung for subjects classified into 10 groups on the basis of their culture, sex, and educational level. The r matrices were analyzed to extract four factors for each of the 10 groups and for each of the five types of ratings by means of the principal axis method. Tucker's coefficients of congruence were computed for each of the 10 groups and for each of the five ratings. Comparison of the coefficients of congruence for the various pairings indicated a reasonable degree of generality in most cases.

The michill adjective rating scale (MARS): Scoring procedures and normative data

The Michill Adjective Rating Scale (MARS) measures four relatively independent factors (unhappiness, extraversion, self-assertiveness, and productive persistence) and has been used to secure ratings of self and other significant individuals from both normal and maladjusted persons. Procedures for administering and scoring and the normative data (means and standard deviations), based on high school students, college undergraduates, and obese adults, are presented here in order to facilitate the experimental use of MARS in clinical and psychosocial research.

Assessment of the Type A behavior pattern in adolescents.

213 adolescents were assessed for the Type A behavior pattern by means of the Adolescent Structured Interview (ASI) and the Bortner Adjective Rating scale (BARS). The concordance of these two measures of Pattern A was examined, as well as the association of each of these measures with independent self-report indices of the major behavioral components of Pattern A (e.g., competitive-achievement striving, aggressiveness-hostility, and time urgency). Although the concordance of the ASI and BARS was low, both measures demonstrated validity in terms of the association between the Type A rating and the indices of the components of Pattern A.

A study of factors associated with the ability to maintain weight loss

The purpose of this study was to determine whether it is possible to predict which patients will have the most success in maintaining weight loss following an in-hospital weight reduction program. Subjects included 175 severely obese women who elected hospitalization for 3 weeks while they participated in a weight reduction program (average loss, 15 pounds). They were followed for 18 to 24 months after discharge. During hospitalization the women were studied intensively, and factors associated with the etiology of obesity were measured. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and Michill Adjective Rating Scale (MARS) psychological tests were used along with a comprehensive history questionnaire containing questions on many factors implicated in the etiology of obesity, including weight history, medical history, eating habits, obesity of family members, and demographics. Of the 89 factors examined, only 3 were found to be significantly related to an ability to maintain weight loss following discharge: the Control and Responsibility scales of the MMPI and a combination of number of meals a day and time of strong appetite. These factors, though statistically significant, were not adequate to predict which women would be able to maintain weight loss. The lack of importance of a large number of common etiologic factors in predicting weight loss suggests that future studies should concentrate on determining what etiologic factors change in subjects losing weight and what factors enable these subjects to make the necessary changes.

Factorial Validation of a Measure of Attitude Toward Public Health Nursing Courses

The Adjective Rating Scale was administered as a pre- and postcourse measure of attitudes toward Public Health Nursing courses as part of a program evaluation. The sample included 352 precourse cases and 447 postcourse cases. A principal- components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used on both the pre- and postcourse samples to determine if the reported factor structure of the instrument would replicate over an all-female, professional sample. The factor structure reduced from the reported five factors to four factors in the precourse sample and to three factors in the postcourse sample. The significance of using the Adjective Rating Scale with an all-female professional sample is discussed.

Interpersonal information conveyed by the content and vocal aspects of speech

Two experiments were conducted to identify kinds of interpersonal information conveyed by vocal and content aspects of speech. Speech samples conveying (1) vocal, (2) content, and (3) both vocal and content information were evaluated. Transmitted information was measured by agreement among subjects on adjective rating scales. Most of the information about “benevolence” was conveyed by content, while most of the information about “social attractiveness” was conveyed by the vocal aspect of speech. Information about “competence” was conveyed by both the vocal and content aspects with male subjects, but with female subjects most of this information was conveyed by the vocal aspect.

The development of the Michill Adjective Rating Scale (MARS).

The development of the Michill Adjective Rating Scale (MARS).

Confrontation as a method of psychological intervention.

The confrontation procedures described here require that the participants—parents, teachers, children, counselors or anyone else who wishes to deal with an interpersonal problem—observe and evaluate overt, concrete aspects of behavior in interpersonal perceptions. These procedures were one of three interventions applied to emotional and behavior problems of elementary school children. The other interventions consisted of brief child psychotherapy and parent counseling. Over a 2-year period, 30 cases were seen in each intervention group. The sample covered a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Videotapes, which were an important part of the confrontation, were obtained in a waiting room during the families' initial visit to the clinic. The families and school personnel participated in other procedures as well, but this presentation focuses only on the videotape material. In the confrontation, each family member individually viewed five to six brief sections of the videotape and rated each of the persons interacting in each scene (e.g., Helen's behavior in relation to the father). The rating instrument used was an adjective rating scale with known reliability and validity. Later, the family members were shown profiles of their own ratings and also profiles of ratings of the same material made by trained observers. Similarities and contrasts emphasized by the graphic patterns in the profiles, particularly when seen in conjunction with concurrent replay of videotapes, stimulated evaluation and exploration of the behaviors by the participants themselves. The consultant served as a technical resource whose function was to present the information obtained as clearly, concretely and objectively as possible. He refrained from interpretations, suggestions or advice, leaving all questions about the utilization of the information to those concerned with the child's daily life. Analysis of the relative effectiveness of the three methods of intervention focused on school grades and observers' ratings of behavior in the classroom and on the playground. Preliminary results indicate that the feedback (confrontation) group generally showed more improvement on both of these measures as compared to cases who were seen in either psychotherapy or parent counseling. We have begun to use videotapes and other methods of confrontation in a variety of ways. This includes videotaping of children in the school setting and providing teachers, parents and the children themselves with video feedback. The conceptual background of the approach rests on the assumption

Self Identity and Referent Others

Changes in self identity (self concept) were measured with bipolar adjective rating scales, and these changes were related to similar ratings provided by group members. The major proposition is that the individual's self identity (and his self evaluation) is dependent upon his subjectively held version of the peer group's actual ratings of him, i.e., self identity is a function of subjective public identity, which is, in turn, a function of objective public identity. Changes in self identity were found to follow this pattern; but, as predicted, these changes were dependent upon (a) the differential importance of various peers for the individual; (b) the extent to which peer perceptions were communicated to him; and (c) the individual's degree of involvement in the group.