Celem artykułu jest opisanie założeń formalnych dotyczących wykorzystywania metody równań strukturalnych (Structural Equation Model – SEM). Układy równań strukturalnych służą do weryfikowania teorii i jej założeń.W artykule zostało opisanych pięć założeń budowy każdego modelu pomiarowego, którego stworzenie poprzedza weryfikację założeń teoretycznych za pomocą układu równań strukturalnych. Głównym celem budowy modelu pomiarowego jest sprawdzenie budowy zmiennych latentnych, w tym: a) sprawdzenie rzetelności zmiennych latentnych, b) obliczenie wariacji zmiennych latentnych, c) sprawdzenie trafności różnicowej zmiennych latentnych, d) sprawdzenie wysokości ładunków czynnikowych (lambd λ) oraz e) sprawdzenie statystyk dopasowania modelu.Kolejno omówione zostały założenia modelu weryfikowanego za pomocą jednopoziomowego układu równań strukturalnych SEM: a) sposoby wyłączania ścieżek w modelu, b) sprawdzenie dopasowania modelu teoretycznego do danych empirycznych.W celu przybliżenia omawianych treści zostały przedstawione grafy prezentujące model pomiarowy, a także model SEM.

The research aimed to describe the differences in preschool children's families in terms of parental influence. One of the important factors predicting a child's behavior at kindergarten was parental directiveness. Directiveness was conceptualized as one of the acts of speech by which the speaker coaxes another to do something. Two types of directiveness were distinguished: warm-hearted directiveness and aggressive directiveness. Two hundred and four participants, parents of kindergarten children, took part in the research. Selection for the research sample was conducted according to the teacher's representation of a child's behavior at kindergarten (well-behaved or badly-behaved). Parents completed psychological tests measuring their level of parental control (conceptualized as teaching the child the rules of social behavior) and, finally, the level and type of directiveness (warm-hearted or aggressive). The purpose of the analysis was to discover which of the enumerated variables best explained a child's behavior at kindergarten. Canonical correlation, discriminant analysis and data mining methods were used for the analysis. Analyses were performed with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and STATISTICA Data Miner 8 software. The results indicate that the level and type of parental directiveness is the most important factor that distinguishes children in groups, the split being due to the children's behavior at kindergarten. Key words: warm-hearted directiveness, aggressive directiveness, parental control, obedience enforcement, parental difficulty, data mining AGNIESZKA SZYMAŃSKA University of WarsawPsychology of Language and Communication 2012, Vol. 16, No. 3 DOI: 10.2478/v10057-012-0015-7Address for correspondence: Agnieszka Szymańska, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki 5/7, 00-183 Warsaw, Poland. E-mail: aszymanska@psych.uw.edu.pl Discussions on the influence of parental communication style on a child's adaptation abilities and style of maintaining interaction with other children seem to have no end in the sciences dealing with the problem of parent-child interaction. Over the last 50 years, however, researchers have collected a lot of evidence for and against the claim that parents influence their children's inner representations of the world and the way children communicate with their surroundings. Parental influence can express itself in many different forms, communication style being

Rating scales are used to elicit data about qualitative entities (e.g., research collaboration). This study presents an innovative method for reducing the number of rating scale items without the predictability loss. The “area under the receiver operator curve method” (AUC ROC) is used. The presented method has reduced the number of rating scale items (variables) to 28.57% (from 21 to 6) making over 70% of collected data unnecessary. Results have been verified by two methods of analysis: Graded Response Model (GRM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). GRM revealed that the new method differentiates observations of high and middle scores. CFA proved that the reliability of the rating scale has not deteriorated by the scale item reduction. Both statistical analysis evidenced usefulness of the AUC ROC reduction method.

Istnieje wiele kontrowersji wokół definicji dyrektywności, jak również jej wpływu na interakcje międzyludzkie i interakcje rodzic–dziecko, która jest przedmiotem szczególnej troski w psychologii. W niniejszym artykule przedstawiono skalę DAiS-R, przeznaczoną do pomiaru dyrektywności rodzicielskiej. Skala DAiS-R została zbudowana, aby ocenić poziom i rodzaj dyrektywności, który jest zdefiniowany jako akt mowy, którego celem jest zachęcanie partnera do robienia czegoś. Wyłoniono dwa rodzaje dyrektywności: agresywną i serdeczną. Badania przeprowadzono na próbie składającej się z 977 osób. Trafność teoretyczna skali została zweryfikowana za pomocą konfirmacyjnej analizy czynnikowej. Skalę cechuje wysoka rzetelność. Dyrektywność serdeczna i agresywna są skorelowane ujemnie. Skala DAiS-R nie jest skorelowana ze Skalą Dyrektywności Raya. Skala ma zastosowanie do oceny stylu komunikacji rodziców. Prowadzone wcześniej badania ujawniły, że na podstawie wyników rodziców uzyskiwanych w skali można przewidzieć zachowanie dziecka w przedszkolu. Analiza potwierdziła nie tylko przydatność skali, lecz także zdecydowanie wykazała istotny wpływ rodzicielskiego stylu komunikacji na zachowanie dzieci.

Patient's expectations of the psychotherapy (especially "the expectation of support") proved to be important moderating variablesin the models-among the characteristics of the patient. The mathematical model also revealed strong correlation of variables measuring "the relationship with the psychotherapist" and "therapeutic interventions".

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to verify a theoretical model of parents’ responses to difficulties they experienced with their child. The model presents relationships between seven variables: (a) discrepancy between parental goal and the child’s current level of development, (b) parental experience of a difficulty, (c) representation of the child in the parent’s mind, (d) parent’s withdrawal from the parenting situation, (e) seeking help, (f) distancing oneself from the situation, and (g) applying pressure on the child. The study involved 319 parents of preschool children: 66 parents of three-year-olds, 85 parents of four-year-olds, 99 parents of five-year-olds and 69 parents of six-year-old children. Structural equations modeling (SEM) was used to verify the compounds described in the theoretical model. The studies revealed that when a parent is experiencing difficulties, the probability increases that the parent will have one of two reactions towards that type of stress: withdrawal from the situation or applying pressure on the child. Experiencing difficulties has no connection with searching for help and is negatively related to distancing oneself from the situation.

One's proper reaction to difficulties is seen as an important factor of parental abilities. This research study verifies whether parents of either "badly-behaved" or "well-behaved" children vary in their reactions to difficult parenting situations connected with their relationship with their child. The group of "badly-behaved" children had externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. The "well-behaved" children's group consisted of extraordinarily mature and properly behaved children according to their kindergarten teachers. The research sample consisted of 204 parents of "badly-behaved" and "well-behaved" children. The research was conducted in Poland. The DAiS scale was used to assess the level and type of parental directiveness, and the PAiNK scale was used to assess obedience enforcement and teaching the rules of proper behavior. Multiple regression, the Sobel test and partial correlation were used to identify mediation effects. The results show that the two groups differ in their reactions to difficulties: a) the parents of "well-behaved" children emphasize the teaching of rules, and this effect is stronger in older children, b) the parents of "badly-behaved" children use aggressive directiveness. This effect is stronger when the children approach school age.