Few experiments have been performed to investigate near-field egocentric distance estimation in an Immersive Virtual Environment (IVE) as compared to the Real World (RW). This article investigates near-field distance estimation in IVEs and RW conditions using physical reach and verbal report measures, by using an apparatus similar to that used by Bingham and Pagano [1998]. Analysis of our experiment shows distance compression in both the IVE and RW conditions in participants' perceptual judgments to targets. This is consistent with previous research in both action space in an IVE and reach space with Augmented Reality (AR). Analysis of verbal responses from participants revealed that participants underestimated significantly less in the virtual world as compared to the RW. We also found that verbal reports and reaches provided different results in both IVEs and RW environments.

It remains unclear whether worry and rumination represent the same functional process, or if they are unique constructs. The current study examined the relationship between worry and rumination, focusing on the potential utility of a bi-factor approach as an alternative to "common" vs. "distinctive" approaches. The results indicated that the structural relationship between worry and rumination is best represented by a bi-factor model (compared to singlefactor and two-factor models), which is comprised of a single factor that captures common variance in worry and rumination, as well as separate worry-specific and rumination-specific factors that capture unique variance. Furthermore, three orthogonal factors derived from the bi-factor model showed diverging associations with motivational traits (avoidance and approach temperament) and distinct anxiety/depression symptoms. The bi-factor conceptualization provides a framework for reconciling the diverging perspectives regarding worry and rumination, suggesting the need to pay attention to both common and unique aspects of worry and rumination.

This study examined the longitudinal association between fathers’ early involvement in routine care-giving, literacy, play, and responsive caregiving activities at 9 months and maternal depressive symptoms at 4 years. Data for 3,550 children and their biological parents were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort data set. Analyses in a structural equation modeling framework examined whether the association between father involvement and maternal depressive symptoms differed for families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and for families of children with other disabilities or delays from families of children who were typically developing. Results indicated that father literacy and responsive caregiving involvement were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms for mothers of children with ASD. These findings indicate that greater father involvement may benefit families of children with ASD and highlight the need to support and encourage service providers to work with fathers.

Despite common operationalization, measurement efficiency of computerized adaptive testing should not only be assessed in terms of the number of items administered but also the time it takes to complete the test. To this end, a recent study introduced a novel item selection criterion that maximizes Fisher information per unit of expected response time (RT), which was shown to effectively reduce the average completion time for a fixed-length test with minimal decrease in the accuracy of ability estimation. As this method also resulted in extremely unbalanced exposure of items, however, a-stratification with b-blocking was recommended as a means for counterbalancing. Although exceptionally effective in this regard, it comes at substantial costs of attenuating the reduction in average testing time, increasing the variance of testing times, and further decreasing estimation accuracy. Therefore, this article investigated several alternative methods for item exposure control, of which the most promising was a simple modification of maximizing Fisher information per unit of centered expected RT. The key advantage of the proposed method is the flexibility in choosing a centering value according to a desired distribution of testing times and level of exposure control. Moreover, the centered expected RT can be exponentially weighted to calibrate the degree of measurement precision. The results of extensive simulations, with item pools and examinees that are both simulated and real, demonstrate that optimally chosen centering and weighting values can markedly reduce the mean and variance of both testing times and test overlap, all without much compromise in estimation accuracy.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine early intervention (EI) service providers’ perceptions of the roles played by fathers in services, as well as their perceptions of the barriers that limit fathers from being engaged in the services provided for families of children with disabilities. A total of 511 EI service providers participated in an online survey. Findings revealed a significant gap between EI providers’ perceptions of the impact fathers can have on their children with disabilities and their perceptions of how useful it is to target fathers for involvement in EI services. In addition, several barriers were identified by participants that limit their ability to successfully engage fathers in the services they provide to their children and families. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future training needs of EI providers.