An extensive body of research has documented the relation between social class, as indexed by socioeconomic status (SES) and subjective social status (SSS), and a host of outcomes, including physical and mental health, academic achievement, and educational attainment. Yet, there remains ambiguity regarding how best to conceptualize and measure social class. This article clarifies definitional and measurement issues related to the assessment of SES and SSS, addresses their importance and relevance for psychological research, and reviews best practices with regard to measurement and assessment. We conclude by discussing the integration of social class with other markers of social position to promote the advancement of psychological science.

Meta-analyses were performed on 25 comparative Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and MMPI-2 studies of 1,428 male African Americans versus 2,837 male European Americans, 12 studies of 1,053 female African Americans versus 1,470 female European Americans, and 13 studies of 500 male Latino Americans and 1,345 male European Americans. Aggregate effect sizes suggest higher scores for ethnic minority groups than for European Americans on some MMPI/MMPI-2 scales and lower scores on others. However, none of the aggregate effect sizes suggest substantive differences from either a statistical or clinical perspective. The MMPI and MMPI-2 apparently do not unfairly portray African Americans and Latinos as pathological. Effect sizes across studies generally did not vary as a function of sociodemographic variables, research setting, or use of the MMPI versus MMPI-2. It is recommended that additional between-and within-ethnic groups psychopathology research continue. In an increasingly multicultural society, ethnic differences in psychopathology could have far reaching implications. Perhaps the most benevolent implication of ethnic differences would be the need for culture-specific models of psychopathology, assessment, and treatment (Florsheim, Tolan, & Gorman-Smith, 1996; Okazaki, 1997). However, cultural differences have traditionally been regarded in our society as deficiencies (Jones, 1988). Ethnic differences in psychopathology could result in ethnic minority persons receiving different, and possibly negative, treatment in educational, employment, legal, mental health, and other settings in which measures of psychopathology are used to determine one's status. Thus, when ethnic differences in psychopathology are reported, the validity of such differences has been questioned (Okazaki & Sue, 1995b). Epidemiological data on psychopathology suggest few ethnic differences in rates of psychopathology. In the Epidemiological Catchment Area Project (ECAP), African Americans had significantly greater lifetime prevalence than European Americans only of simple phobia, agoraphobia, and cognitive impairment (Robins et al., 1984). In the same project, European Americans had a significantly greater prevalence of drug abuse and major depressive disorders than did Mexican Americans, but there were not 'significant differences for other disorders (Karno et al., 1987). More recent data also suggest comparable rates of psychopathology across ethnic groups (Huertin-Roberts, Snowden,

Associations between grandmother and partner involvement and adjustment were examined among 61 Puerto Rican adolescent mothers. Results indicated that associations between grandmother involvement and adjustment were moderated by the adolescents' level of acculturation. Greater support was related to less symptomatology and parenting stress when acculturation scores were low but to more symptomatology and parenting stress when acculturation scores were high. Social support from partners was related to less symptomatology (but not parenting stress). Although coresidence with a partner was related to greater symptomatology, a significant interaction effect revealed that coresidence was associated with greater symptomatology mainly when mothers perceived their partners as providing low levels of support. Results are discussed in light of Latino cultural values and normative developmental issues. Implications for intervention strategies are also discussed.Social support has been proposed as an important positive influence on psychological adjustment and parenting competence, especially for those parenting under conditions of high stress or social risk, such as young minority mothers (Wilcox, 1981). For adolescent mothers, research has identified both their mothers ("grandmothers") and their partners as important potential sources of support (de Anda, 1984;Flaherty, Facteau, & Garver, 1991). However, research examining the role of partner and

This exploratory study investigated whether ethnic identity, as assessed by Phinney's (1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, functioned as a moderator in the relation between skin color (as measured by masked interviewer evaluation, participant self-report, and skin reflectance data) and self-esteem (as measured by Rosenberg's 1989 Self-Esteem Scale). In a sample of 53 English-speaking Puerto Rican women, a hierarchical multiple regression indicated that among lighter skinned women, those who felt less attached to their culture had less self-esteem than those who were more culturally embedded. Similarly, among darker skinned women, greater attachment to Puerto Rican culture was associated with greater self-esteem than a less defined ethnic identity. Findings are discussed in light of the beneficial effects of ethnic identity.

With a view to elaborating a bioactive bone substitute, the association of an artificial extracellular matrix, basically constituted of elastin-solubilized peptides (ESP) and type I + III collagens, with different types of calcium phosphates, was investigated. This paper describes the selective adsorption of ESP on some calcium phosphate samples, and the further association of the adsorbed peptides with type I + III collagens. A preliminary study of the material cytotoxicity was carried out, investigating the behaviour of human osteoblast cells in contact with the yielded composite material.