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Purpose/Objective: This study examined the clinical utility of a single item for anxiety from the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) in determining the need for mental health referral for veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Research Method/Design: Three hundred eighty veterans referred for TBI evaluation were administered the NSI and a common anxiety screening measure (Beck Anxiety Inventory; BAI). Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were conducted to determine ideal BAI total cutoff scores for a single item of the NSI pertaining to anxiety (i.e., “anxious or tense”). Results Using multiclass ROC curve analyses, NSI scores of 3 and 4 for the sample were comparable to scores of 11 and 22 on the BAI, respectively. Post hoc ROC curve analyses were then conducted on the sample after removal of potentially invalid NSI protocols (i.e., Validity-10 scores greater than 22), and NSI scores 3 and 4 corresponded with scores of 11 and 20, respectively. Conclusion/Implications A minimum score of 3 (severe) on the NSI item was deemed sufficient to indicate the need for further mental health referral without warranting additional screening for anxiety. Further analyses also revealed that removal of positive Validity-10 protocols did not significantly change ROC curve findings, suggesting that the particular NSI item for anxiety can still be used for clinical purposes despite an otherwise invalid protocol. Implications for treatment and recommendations pertaining to when additional screening might be required are discussed.

In previous research, Kuwaiti students obtained higher scores than American students on a religiosity scale. For the present study, the self-reported religiosity of Kuwaiti and American students was assessed using a single item. The respondents were 154 Kuwaiti students ( M age = 20.8 yr., SD = 2.4) and 154 American college students ( M age = 21.8 yr., SD = 5.0; 82% women in both samples). The Kuwaiti students responded in Arabic and the American students in English to the question: “What is your level of religiosity in general?” using an 11-point Likert format anchored by 0 and 10. The high score indicates high religiosity. The Kuwaiti students obtained a significantly higher mean score for religiosity than did their American counterparts (6.5 vs 4.5), indicating that religiosity is more important in the lives of the present sample of Kuwaiti students than in their American counterparts. A single-item self-rating scale may be useful in brief surveys such as epidemiological studies.

This article contributes to the psychology of moral behavior by inquiring into the presence and extent of worrying about moral concerns in one's life relative to worrying about practical concerns. A 20-item questionnaire was developed, mixing eight moral worry questions with twelve ordinary worry items (finances, health) identified in previous research on worry. Factor analysis produced three domains of worrisome thinking: moral concerns, social desirability, and personal and family health. A single item inquiting into worry about not living up to God's expectations did not load onto any other factor and was dropped from further analysis. Internal consistency for the moral worry factor scale was .85. Mean scores for this scale (moral domain) were significantly lower than mean scores for the two practical worry domain factors. Limitations of the study and directions for further research are outlined.

A single-item index of acculturation towards a host culture is described. The index appears to have good construct validity as assessed in a sample of 177 young Vietnamese immigrants in Australia.

Researchers concluded that Item 2 of the Short-form General Health Survey of the Medical Outcomes Study can be used as a single-item measure of health-related quality of life. This conclusion is tested again on a random sample of elderly people in the Netherlands. Although it can be concluded that the psychometric properties of the short form are satisfactory, the use of the single item as a measure of health-related quality of life is discussed.

Visual analogue mood scales provide extremely rapid, single-item assessment of affective states. This study examined discrimination on a single-item visual analogue depression scale between dysphoric or mildly depressed and nondepressed individuals in a sample of 284 college students. The visual analogue mood scale significantly discriminated subjects by mood category and achieved comparable hit rate, sensitivity, and specificity relative to other well validated mood scales.

Many survey instruments measure health-related quality of life. Researchers can choose from instruments ranging in length from one to several hundred items. A small sample of 35 chronically ill adults self-administered the Short-form General Health Survey of the Medical Outcomes Study, a 20-item health-related quality-of-life measure with established reliability and validity. One specific item on the MOS questionnaire can serve as a single-item measure of health-related quality of life. This one item correlated positively and significantly with the over-all score for health-related quality of life. The results of this analysis support the use of this single-item measure of health-related quality of life when multiple-item instruments are not suitable due to limitations of resources or sample size.

Kappa coefficient of agreement on a single rating category, KSC, with its associated test of statistical significance, is proposed as a measure of the interrater agreement where a single item or object is rated by multiple raters. A goodness-of-fit approach is used to test the statistical significance of all Kappasc beyond chance agreement.

Summary.-The present study examined the relationship between ratings by 133 representatives of business and industry of new employees' successful communication on the job and the employers' satisfaction with new employees' knowledge, skills, and abilities. Analysis supported the hypothesis, showing the importance of personal characteristics, i.e., ability to communicate successfully on the job, when investigating person-situation fit and organizational behavior. The successful assimilation of new employees into the workplace has been suggested as influencing organizational behavior (Schneider, 1987) as well as the well-being of the organization (Taylor, 1911). Following Schneider's (1987) arguments, this success depends partially upon what attributes the newcomer already possesses. This study examined the relationship between newcomers' ability to communicate on the job and employers1 satisfaction with newcomers' knowledge, skills, and abilities. Business and industry representatives (N = 133) from a large midwestern city voluntarily completed an anonymous 14-item questionnaire (via public mail system) designed to assess various aspects of the new employees' assimilation into the organization, i.e., training needs, value of educational preparation, etc. Business and industry representatives were identified by their participation on higher educational advisory committees. More specifically, these business and industry personnel represented employers encompassing business and office technology, engineering, and health and human services occupations. Employers' satisfaction (M = 3.29, SD = .98) and employees' communication (M = 3.14, SD = 1.05) were each assessed by a single item, i.e., "Over-all, I am satisfied with the knowledge, skds, and abihties our new employees possess" and "For the most part, new employees can successfully communicate (either verbally and/or in writing) with little or no training from us," respectively. Response format was a 5-point scale (1 =strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).

Summary.-This experiment assessed further single-item recognition following verbal discrimination learning by varying the number of study and test trials presented during the initial verbal discrimination task. Two study periods (1 and 2 study trials) and three test periods (0, 1, and 2 trials) were factorially combined to yield six experimental groups. Increasing the test periods increased recognition of the prior words to be verbally discriminated as old items. Although subjects could identify the prior function of the old items, the variables did not increase or decrease this ability. Kausler, Pavur, and Yadrick (1975) proposed a model for investigating verbal discrimination learning which combines hypotheses derived from signal detection theory and frequency theory (Ekstrand, Wallace, & Underwood, 1966). Basically the model suggests that following a study phase of a verbal discrimination task, there should be two distributions of verbal items, those previously right and those previously wrong. Because these distributions are based on frequencies, the distribution of prior right items should have a greater mean value. If the subject is now presented with a single-item recognition task which includes the prior right and wrong, and new control items, the model suggests that the subject establishes two criteria: C 1, to discriminate between old and new items, and a more stringent criterion, C 2, to discriminate prior right from wrong items. This model predicts that following a study trial, more prior right items than wrong items will be correctly identified as old since more of these items exceed the lenient C 1 criterion. However, the model suggests that more prior wrong items will be correctly identified as to function. To be identified correctly as a right item, the frequency must exceed C 2; very few items have this frequency. By default, the subject identifies .items as wrong resulting in a higher hit rate for wrong items. Both predictions have been substantiated by Kausler, et al. ( 1975). This model predicts that as the number of study trials increases, the discriminability of prior right and wrong items as old items should also increase. Furthermore, since most prior right items have been correctly identified following one study trial, most of this increase would be a function of the in