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A brief review of stereotype research indicates that little has been discovered about stereotypes that are defined as bad generalizations and measured with the Katz and Braly checklist. McCauley and Stitt have proposed that stereotypes can be better understood as probabilistic predictions that distinguish one group from another. The practicality of the proposed diagnostic-ratio measure of stereotyping is argued, and the relation of the new measure to the Katz and Braly measure is discussed. Lippmann's arguments against stereotypes-that they are illogical in origin, resistant to new information, and obviously invalid -are shown to be inapplicable to probabilistic stereotypes. Other common arguments against stereotypes-their ethnocentrism, genetic implications, projected hostility, and exaggeration of real group differences-are shown to be arguments against particular stereotypes rather than arguments against stereotyping. Recent research indicating various cognitive biases in the formation and use of stereotypes is reviewed, and it is suggested that what is wrong with stereotyping is no more and no less than what is wrong with human conceptual behavior generally.

The purpose of this study was to compare the quadriplegia index of function (QIF) to the functional independence measure (FIM) in assessing the daily performance of selfcare activities by individuals with cervical spinal cord injury. This study evaluated feeding, grooming and bathing activities in 22 C4-C7, Frankel A-D spinal cord injury patients between 3 and 12 months postinjury. The manual muscle test (MMT) was performed on 17 of these subjects during the same window of time as the QIF and the FIM. An upper extremity motor score (UEMS) was derived from the MMT. In order to relate motor power to functional ability, the UEMS was used as a measure of neurological function to test the hypothesis that the QIF scores are more highly correlated to motor power than are the FIM scores for this population. Spearman coefficients were calculated to correlate the QIF, the FIM and the UEMS. For the bathing and grooming categories, both the QIF and the FIM showed significant and similar correlations to the UEMS. For the feeding category, however, the QIF had a significantly better correlation to the UEMS than did the FIM (Rho = 0.90 vs 0.53, p < 0.01). Use of the QIF feeding scale may allow the detection of changes in function as individuals recover that the FIM scale would miss. Further evaluation of the remaining selfcare and mobility scales is needed. Modification of the FIM with more sensitive portions of the QIF would improve the discriminative ability of outcome studies and program evaluations.

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Background Data on obesity prevalence in children with intellectual disability (ID) are scarce. Objective We estimated rates of obesity among children aged 10–17 years with and without ID in a nationally representative dataset that included measures of child weight and ID status, as well as family meal frequency, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. Methods Chi-square tests compared prevalence of obesity, demographic and behavioral characteristics between children with and without ID as reported in the 2011 National Survey of Children’s Health. Tests for interaction in logistic regression models determined whether associations between obesity and behavioral characteristics were different between children with/without ID. Results Obesity prevalence for children with ID was 28.9% and 15.5% for children without ID. After adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity and poverty level, the odds ratio was significantly 1.89 times greater among children with ID than among those without ID (95% CI: 1.14 to 3.12). Among children with ID, 49.8% ate at least one meal with family members every day compared to 35.0% without ID (p< 0.002), and 49.5% with ID participated in frequent physical activity compared to 62.9% (p<0.005). Prevalence of obesity was higher among all children who ate family meals every day compared to fewer days per week, and the effect was significantly more pronounced among those with ID (p=0.05). Conclusions Prevalence of obesity among youth with ID was almost double that of the general population. Prospective studies are needed in this population to examine the impact of consistent family mealtimes and infrequent physical activity.

This study examined patient/proxy agreement for telephone administration of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) to a sample of 25 community-living stroke patients 18 mo post-stroke and their caregivers. Patients had all received in-patient rehabilitation for stroke. Because use of the FIM is increasing for follow-up purposes, it is important to document whether it is appropriate to administer a telephone version to proxy caregivers in situations in which patients cannot answer for themselves. Proxy agreement results were then compared with those obtained for in-person administration of the FIM to the same sample 1 yr earlier. Overall, proxy agreement for telephone administration was excellent for total scores (intraclass correlation was 0.91) and the physical dimension (0.94) and lower for the cognitive dimension (0.52), closely paralleling results obtained for the earlier in-person administration. Reasons for lower agreement on the cognitive dimension are discussed.

Background: We sought to assess the association between age and the prevalence of obesity among children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health.Methods: Analyses were restricted to 43,777 children, ages 10-17, with valid measures of parent-reported weight, height, and ASD status. Exploratory analyses describe the impact of sex, race/ethnicity, and household income on the relationship between age and obesity in ASD.Results: Although the overall prevalence of obesity among children with ASD was significantly ( p < 0.001) higher than among children without ASD (23.1% vs. 14.1%, 95% confidence interval for difference 3.6 to 14.4), child age significantly ( p = 0.035) modified this difference. In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, adjusted for sex, race/ethnicity, and household income, the odds of obesity among children with ASD compared with children without ASD increased monotonically from ages 10 to 17 years. This pattern arose due to a consistently high prevalence of obesity among children with ASD and a decline in prevalence with advancing age among children without ASD. These findings were replicated using a propensity score analysis. Exploratory analyses suggested that the age-related change in obesity disparity between children with and without ASD may be further modified by sex, race/ethnicity, and household income.Conclusions: The patterns of prevalence observed with increasing age among children with and without ASD were unexpected. A better understanding of the etiological and maintenance factors for obesity in youth with ASD is needed to develop interventions tailored to the specific needs of these children.

Background and Purpose Determining the functional/ health status of stroke survivors poses special difficulties because of cognitive impairments that frequently result from stroke. A possible means of assessing the status of stroke survivors who are cognitively impaired is getting proxy responses from a family member or other caregiver. Proxy agreement was evaluated for two measures of functional/ health status, the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) and the Health Status Questionnaire (HSQ), and a measure of disability, the Functional Independence Measure (FIM).Methods Thirty-eight stroke survivors were administered the measures at follow-up (median time since the stroke, 6 months). Caregivers were instructed to answer as proxies for the stroke survivors in their care. Demographics on age, sex, race, marital status, educational level, side of lesion, and relation of stroke survivor to caregiver were collected.