The positive solitude scale (PS): psychometric properties among Chinese older.

BACKGROUND: Positive solitude, taken as a meaningful activity, contributes to the improvement of health, well-being, and quality of life of older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Positive Solitude Scale (PS) among Chinese older to provide a reference for related research. METHODS: A convenience sample of 608 older people from 10 provinces in China was used to conduct the survey. RESULTS: The Chinese version of the PS consisted of 9 items with a unidimensional structure, which could explain 60.91% of the variance. The factor loadings of each item ranged from 0.67 to 0.82, and the communality ranged from 0.44 to 0.68. The confirmatory factor analysis showed good model fit (χ2/df = 2.771, RMSEA = 0.076, CFI = 0.972, IFI = 0.972, TLI = 0.959, PNFI = 0.665, PCFI = 0.675). It was found from the criterion-related validity test that PS scores were significantly and positively correlated with Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness scores (r = 0.45 to 0.44); PS scores were significantly and negatively correlated with Short-Form UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6), Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), Ego Depletion Scale (EDS), and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2nd Edition (AAQ-II) (r = -0.27 to -0.36). The Cronbach's α coefficient value for the scale was 0.917; the split-half reliability coefficient value was 0.928. In addition, the PS showed cross-gender consistency. CONCLUSIONS: The PS presented favorable psychometric characteristics in older people, which can be used as a valid tool for assessing older people's positive solitude.

Quantitative relationships between national cultures and the increase in cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia.

Support vector machine (SVM) and genetic algorithm were successfully used to predict the changes in the prevalence rate (ΔPR) measured by the increase of reported cases per million population from the 16th to the 45th day during a nation's lockdown after the COVID-19 outbreak. The national cultural indices [individualism-collectivism (Ind), tightness-looseness (Tight)], and the number of people per square kilometer (Pop_density) were used to develop the SVM model of lnΔPR. The SVM model has R2 of 0.804 for the training set (44 samples) and 0.853 for the test set (11 samples), which were much higher than those (0.416 and 0.593) of the multiple linear regression model. The statistical results indicate that there are nonlinear relationships between lnΔPR and Tight, Ind, and Pop_density. It is feasible to build the model for lnΔPR with SVM algorithm. The results suggested that the risk of COVID-19 epidemic spread will be reduced if a nation implements severe measures to strengthen the tightness of national culture and individuals realize the importance of collectivism.