An examination of the test-retest reliability of the ACE-SQ in a sample of college athletes.

OBJECTIVE: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study is one of the largest studies ever conducted that has examined the relationship of childhood abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction to subsequent health and well-being later in life. Questions from the ACE study evolved into the ACE Study Questionnaire, a measure used for assessing individuals' self-reported experiences of childhood adversity. The ACE measure is widely available and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends it as a tool for assessing one's lifetime risk of mental and physical health problems and other negative social problems. Despite the extensive dissemination of the ACE Study Questionnaire, to date there has been only one article published about its psychometric properties. The current study examined the test-retest reliability of the ACE-SQ in a sample of nonservice seeking college athletes (N = 141). METHOD: Time 1 and Time 2 of data collection were approximately one year apart. Pearson's correlations were computed to observe a level of agreement between Time 1 and Time 2 responses. RESULTS: The overall measure yielded a modest test-retest coefficient, r = .71, p < .001. Household dysfunction items demonstrated a higher stability coefficient, r = .65, p < .001 than did abuse and neglect items, r = .52, p < .001. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that further research is needed on the psychometric properties of this questionnaire in different age populations. (PsycINFO Database Record

Individuals' beliefs about the etiology of same-sex sexual orientation.

We examined the relationships between beliefs about the etiology of having a same-sex sexual orientation, sexual prejudice, and support for gay-relevant legislation using the justification-suppression model of prejudice as our theoretical foundation. Results indicated that more belief that a same-sex sexual orientation was due to nurture factors predicted less support for gay-relevant legislation, and that this relationship was mediated by levels of sexual prejudice. The opposite pattern was found for belief that a same-sex sexual orientation was due to nature factors. This suggests that beliefs about the etiology of sexual orientation may serve as justification (or suppression) factors in the expression of prejudice toward gay men and lesbians.

Effects of racism on perceptions and punishment of intra- and interracial crimes.

The majority of hate crimes in the United States are driven by racial bias. However, extra-legal factors such as the perpetrators' motivations, the races of the victims and perpetrators, and the presence or absence of hate symbols or slurs often result in ambiguity in the classification of crimes as hate crimes. This uncertainty evokes consideration of how such crimes are characterized and of how violent intra- and interracial crimes are perceived and responded to. The current study used violent crime vignettes to explore the effects of participants' levels of racism, perpetrator and victim race, and assault severity on perceptions of crimes as "hate crimes," victim blame, and sentence recommendations. These results contribute to the understanding of how intra- and interracial crimes are perceived and how individuals' levels of racism affect these perceptions.