The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale: Cross-national measurement invariance and convergent validity evidence.

Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) is a widely used measure that captures somatic symptoms of coronavirus-related anxiety. In a large-scale collaboration spanning 60 countries (Ntotal = 21,513), we examined the CAS's measurement invariance and assessed the convergent validity of CAS scores in relation to the fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S) and the satisfaction with life (SWLS-3) scales. We utilized both conventional exact invariance tests and alignment procedures, with results revealing that the single-factor model fit the data well in almost all countries. Partial scalar invariance was supported in a subset of 56 countries. To ensure the robustness of results, given the unbalanced samples, we employed resampling techniques both with and without replacement and found the results were more stable in larger samples. The alignment procedure demonstrated a high degree of measurement invariance with 9% of the parameters exhibiting noninvariance. We also conducted simulations of alignment using the parameters estimated in the current model. Findings demonstrated reliability of the means but indicated challenges in estimating the latent variances. Strong positive correlations between CAS and FCV-19S estimated with all three different approaches were found in most countries. Correlations of CAS and SWLS-3 were weak and negative but significantly differed from zero in several countries. Overall, the study provided support for the measurement invariance of the CAS and offered evidence of its convergent validity while also highlighting issues with variance estimation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Satisfaction with Life Scale in Adolescent Samples: Measurement Invariance across 24 Countries and Regions, Age, and Gender.

Measurement of adolescent life satisfaction across cultures has not received much attention in previous empirical research. The present study evaluated measurement invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) among adolescents in 24 countries and regions (N = 22,710; age range = 13-19 years; 53% female). A single-factor model with residual covariance between a pair of items tapping past life satisfaction fitted well in 19 countries and regions and showed a partial metric invariance. In a subset of nine countries and regions, partial scalar invariance was supported. Partial metric invariance across all 24 countries and regions was achieved when custom model modifications in five countries and regions were included. Three SWLS items showed evidence of noninvariance across cultures. The measurement model was found to operate similarly across gender and age. Our findings suggest that caution is needed when using the SWLS for measuring life satisfaction among adolescents from different cultures. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11482-021-10024-w.

Behavioral and Academic Adjustment of Remotely Acculturating Adolescents in Urban Jamaica.

Remote acculturation (RA) is a modern form of non-migrant acculturation toward distant cultures prompted by indirect/intermittent globalization-related cultural exposure. RA theory holds that not only are global cultures now pouring into local neighborhoods, but many youth are also internalizing these remote cultures. How well do they fare? Prior studies in Jamaica and elsewhere have reported that U.S./Western-oriented adolescents exhibit poorer health habits. However, no studies have yet investigated adolescents' behavioral or academic adjustment in the context of RA, whether in Jamaica or elsewhere. Therefore, 245 adolescents and their mothers from high schools in Kingston, Jamaica (Madolescent_age   = 13.3; Mmother_age  = 40.2) completed questionnaires assessing their RA in terms of behaviors and values, as well as the adolescents' behavioral resilience and grades. SEM analyses revealed that RA was, indeed, linked to adolescent behavioral and academic adjustment in Jamaica. Overall, Jamaican orientation was associated with better adaptation whereas European American orientation was associated with worse.

School Climate, Academic Achievement and Educational Aspirations in Roma Minority and Bulgarian Majority Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: School climate can promote students' academic achievement and high educational aspirations. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life, norms, values, social interactions and organizational processes within a school. OBJECTIVE: We examined for the present sample whether (a) school climate relates to academic achievement and educational aspirations and (b) such relations vary for Roma minority compared to their majority peers. METHOD: Participants in this cross-sectional study were 356 adolescents aged 11-19 years old (159 Roma, 197 Bulgarian majority), 332 mothers (149 Roma, 183 majority), 231 fathers (104 Roma, 127 majority) and 221 majority teachers who completed self-report surveys to address the study goals. Adolescents provided data on educational aspirations and academic achievement, parents on their children's educational aspirations and teachers reported on school climate. We employed linear mixed models to explore associations of school climate, academic achievement and educational aspirations among Roma and Bulgarian majority youth. RESULTS: There were negative associations between teacher-reported school climate and students' academic achievement, as well as adolescent and parental educational aspirations for Roma adolescents only. Roma adolescents and parents reported lower academic achievement and educational aspirations than their majority counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the relevance of school climate in relation to academic achievement and aspirations of disadvantaged minority students. Interventions should pay close attention to perceptions and attitudes in a school to successfully promote positive outcomes among students.

Ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, life satisfaction and school achievement of Roma ethnic minority youth.

This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Explaining Positive Adaptation of Immigrant Youth across Cultures. This study tested a mediation model of ethnic socialization (i.e., parental practices that promote children's knowledge about their history, heritage culture, cultural authenticity, and ethnic bias management) in Roma youth. Roma are the largest ethnic minority group in Europe subjected to severe discrimination, both currently and historically. Participants were 202 Roma youth aged 14 to 19 years old (M = 16.25, 53% females), who provided self-reports on their experience of ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, school achievement, and life satisfaction. Cultural pride reinforcement was related to better school achievement, whereas cultural coping with antagonism was positively related to life satisfaction. The study confirmed the model in that ethnic socialization was positively related to life satisfaction through effects on ethnic identity but negatively associated with school achievement. Findings have implications for adaptive cultural mechanisms promoting positive developmental outcomes among historically disadvantaged groups including those intersecting immigrant and multigenerational ethnic minority group categories.

Introduction to a special section on Explaining Positive Adaptation of Immigrant and Minority Youth across Cultures.

This special section on "Explaining Positive Adaptation of Immigrant and Minority Youth across Cultures" is the result of an expert meeting organized by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the European Association of Developmental Psychology (EADP), and the European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA). The aim of this special section was to bring together empirical studies and expert commentaries on a pressing topic of global importance, and to explore intersections between the fields of acculturation and positive youth development. From these contributions, several major challenges were identified. These included the need for greater attention to the strengths and adaptation of immigrant adolescents (i.e., to include a positive youth development framework in acculturation research and theory), the differentiation and intersections between acculturative processes and normative developmental challenges, the evolution acculturation theory, the need to better understand contact between multiple groups, the consideration of context-dependency and dynamic nature of acculturative processes.

Ethnic, Familial, and Religious Identity of Roma Adolescents in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Kosovo, and Romania in Relation to Their Level of Well-Being.

This study examines ethnic, national, familial, and religious identity and well-being of 632 Roma minority and 589 majority adolescents (age: M = 15.98 years, SD = 1.34) in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, and Romania. Results indicated that Roma showed lower endorsement of national identity but stronger religious identity than their majority counterparts. Path models showed positive associations of familial and religious identities with well-being, whereas Roma identity was negatively associated with well-being, particularly for Roma in Bulgaria and Kosovo (countries with a less active policy toward improving conditions of Roma). In the latter countries, Roma ethnic identity is less relevant and weakly associated with psychological well-being of youth.

Acculturation orientations mediate the link between religious identity and adjustment of Turkish-Bulgarian and Turkish-German adolescents.

There is a growing recognition of the need to examine religiousness and conduct research on its influence on acculturation and adjustment among ethnic minorities (Güngör et al. in Int J Behav Dev 36:367-373, 2012. doi:10.1177/0165025412448357). The present study compares Turkish minority youth in Bulgaria and Germany by examining relationships among religious identity, acculturation orientations (i.e., cultural maintenance and adoption) and acculturation outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction and socio-cultural adjustment to the Turkish and mainstream cultures). Participants were 161 youth in Bulgaria and 155 in Germany who completed measures on religious identity, acculturation orientations and adjustment. Results revealed that religious identity and Turkish culture maintenance are more important for Turkish-German, than for Turkish-Bulgarian youth. A multigroup path model showed that for both samples acculturation orientations partially mediated the link between religious identity and adjustment to the Turkish culture, whereas religious identity was directly related both to adjustment to the mainstream culture and to life satisfaction. Findings highlight the centrality of religious identity and Turkish domains of acculturation for positive adjustment outcomes for Turkish youth in Bulgaria and Germany.

Brief report: When does identity lead to negative affective experiences? A comparison of Turkish-Bulgarian and Turkish-German adolescents.

We examine relationships between social identity domains (ethnic, national, and religious) and negative affect among Turkish-Bulgarian and Turkish-German youth. Path analysis confirmed a multiple social identities (MSI) factor that has negative relations to experiencing negative affect for Turkish youth in both countries. Beyond this negative relationship, the component of national identity showed a positive relationship to negative affect for Turkish-Bulgarians, but not for Turkish-Germans. Our findings indicate that beyond the generally adaptive effect of MSI on youth development, unique components of social identity may not always be an asset: In an assimilative acculturation context (i.e., Bulgaria), the endorsement of national identity was not adaptive. Our research therefore highlights the need for a contextually differentiated view on "healthy" identity formation among immigrants for research and practice.

Intergenerational transmission of ethnic identity and life satisfaction of Roma minority adolescents and their parents.

This study investigates intergeneration transmission of ethnic identity as a resource for life satisfaction of Roma adolescents and their parents. Historically, Roma represent the largest ethnic minority in Europe. They have been exposed to severe discrimination, social exclusion, and poverty. Therefore, identifying resources for their life satisfaction is theoretically and practically important. The present study included 1093 participants, of which there were 171 Roma adolescents (age: M = 14.96 years, SD = 1.85), 155 mothers (age: M = 36.16 years, SD = 5.77) and 123 fathers (age: M = 39.68 years, SD = 6.06). Further, a comparison group of 248 mainstream adolescents with their mothers (n = 221) and fathers (n = 175) was also included in the study. Adolescents and their parents provided data on ethnic identity (MEIM; Phinney, 1992) and life satisfaction (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). Results indicated that Roma youth were lower on endorsement of ethnic identity and average on life satisfaction compared to their mainstream peers. A structural equation model showed that ethnic identity was a positive predictor of life satisfaction for both adolescents and their Roma parents. Furthermore, parents' ethnic identity was a predictor of adolescent life satisfaction. We concluded that for Roma youth and their parents, ethnic identity represents a salient source for life satisfaction and an intergenerational continuity of identity and life satisfaction exists.

Collective identity and well-being of Bulgarian Roma adolescents and their mothers.

In Europe and specifically in Bulgaria, Roma represent the largest indigenous ethnic minority exposed to severe discrimination, social exclusion, poverty, and compromised well-being. To improve their conditions, identifying sources of psychological well-being for Roma is theoretically relevant and practically important. This study investigated the relation between ethnic, familial, and religious identities as salient collective identity components for psychological well-being among 194 Roma adolescents (age: M = 16.11 years, SD = 1.36) and their mothers (age: M = 35.95 years, SD = 3.54). The results indicated that in line with marginalization models of acculturation, Roma youth and their mothers showed a low endorsement of both Bulgarian mainstream and Roma ethnic identity. The average scores of well-being were also low. For both groups, familial identity was stronger compared to Roma, Bulgarian, and religious identity. A path model showed that collective identity was a positive predictor of well-being in both adolescents and mothers and that the mothers' collective identity was a predictor of adolescent well-being. Bulgarian mainstream identity had the strongest relationship with collective identity. It is concluded that, for Roma youth and their mothers, family is an important identity domain as it represents the most salient identification source that is not challenged in their environment.

Collective identity and wellbeing of Roma minority adolescents in Bulgaria.

In Europe and particularly in Bulgaria, Roma represent the largest low-status minority group that is subjected to marked public intolerance and discrimination. This study examined links among Roma (N = 207) and Bulgarian (N = 399) adolescents' ethnic, familial, and religious identities as salient identity aspects for their psychological wellbeing. Results indicated that, as expected, Roma youth reported lower levels of wellbeing than Bulgarian youth. The latter revealed a weaker religious identity than Roma youth, whereas no ethnic group differences emerged regarding Bulgarian or familial identity. Furthermore, we observed that collective identity was higher in older participants of both groups. Finally, a multigroup analysis using structural equation modeling showed that collective identity was a positive predictor of wellbeing for both Roma and Bulgarian adolescents. Findings demonstrated differences in salience as well as structural communalities regarding ways in which collective identity affects wellbeing of youth from two ethnically diverse communities.