The role of alcohol consumption in female victimization: findings from a French representative sample.

Alcohol is frequently related to interpersonal aggression, but information regarding the role of alcohol consumption by victims of severe aggression is however lacking. In order to better understand the dynamic of victimization, we investigated contextual, facilitator, and psychological impact variables related to victimization in a French sample composed of 1,033 females aged 18-74 years. The participants were recruited using quota sampling methodology, and responses were measured using Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewer. A logistic regression was conducted using a backward elimination procedure to identify the significant predictors of blows and wounds suffered in the past 24 months. The results indicated that victims, relative to nonvictims, did binge drink significantly more often, had a higher aggression trait, and had experienced more social hardships in the past. The study's limitations are noted.

Relationships of French and English Morphophonemic Orthographies to Word Reading, Spelling, and Reading Comprehension during Early and Middle Childhood.

Two longitudinal studies of word reading, spelling, and reading comprehension identified commonalities and differences in morphophonemic orthographies-French (Study 1, n=1313) or English (Study 2, n=114) in early childhood (grade 2) and middle childhood (grade 5). For French and English, statistically significant concurrent relationships among these literacy skills occurred in grades 2 and 5, and longitudinal relationships for each skill with itself from grade 2 to 5; but concurrent relationships were more sizable and longitudinal relationships more variable for English than French especially for word reading to reading comprehension. Results show that, for both morphophonemic orthographies, assessment and instructional practices should be tailored to early or middle childhood, and early childhood reading comprehension may not be related to middle childhood spelling. Also discussed are findings applying only to English, for which word origin is primarily Anglo-Saxon in early childhood, but increasingly French in middle childhood.

French norms and validation of the Child Development Inventory (CDI): Inventaire du Developpement de l'Enfant (IDE).

The aim of this study was to determine the French norms and examine the validity of a parent-report inventory: the Child Development Inventory (CDI), called "Inventaire du Développement de l'Enfant (IDE)" in French. This assesses the general level of a child's development in 8 developmental domains. The norms were determined for a community sample of 1287 children, aged 15 to 72 months. The score for the CDI general development scale correlates closely with chronological age (r = .89). The intra- and interobserver (mother vs teacher) agreements were .97 and .76. The 1-year stability coefficient between the developmental quotient (DQ) values was .81. Correlation between the DQ (CDI) and the IQ of psychometric individual test was high (r = .84). The sensitivity and specificity for detecting borderline children (IQ < 86) were 84% (95% CI = 72% to 92%) and 92% (95% CI = 84% to 97%), respectively. Therefore, the French version of the CDI, like the English one, provides a useful tool for measuring children's development.

Reading in French-speaking adults with dyslexia.

This study investigated the reading and reading-related skills of 15 French-speaking adults with dyslexia, whose performance was compared with that of chronological-age controls (CA) and reading-level controls (RL). Experiment 1 assessed the efficiency of their phonological reading-related skills (phonemic awareness, phonological short-term memory, and rapid automatic naming (RAN)) and experiment 2 assessed the efficiency of their lexical and sublexical (or phonological) reading procedures (reading aloud of pseudowords and irregular words of different lengths). Experiment 1 revealed that adults with dyslexia exhibited lower phonological reading-related skills than CAs only, and were better than RL controls on the RAN. In experiment 2, as compared with RL controls, only a deficit in the sublexical reading procedure was observed. The results of the second experiment replicated observations from English-language studies but not those of the first experiment. Several hypotheses are discussed to account for these results, including one related to the transparency of orthographic systems.