Detecting Careless Responding in Multidimensional Forced-Choice Questionnaires.

The multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format is an alternative to rating scales in which participants rank items according to how well the items describe them. Currently, little is known about how to detect careless responding in MFC data. The aim of this study was to adapt a number of indices used for rating scales to the MFC format and additionally develop several new indices that are unique to the MFC format. We applied these indices to a data set from an online survey (N = 1,169) that included a series of personality questionnaires in the MFC format. The correlations among the careless responding indices were somewhat lower than those published for rating scales. Results from a latent profile analysis suggested that the majority of the sample (about 76-84%) did not respond carelessly, although the ones who did were characterized by different levels of careless responding. In a simulation study, we simulated different careless responding patterns and varied the overall proportion of carelessness in the samples. With one exception, the indices worked as intended conceptually. Taken together, the results suggest that careless responding also plays an important role in the MFC format. Recommendations on how it can be addressed are discussed.

Separation of Traits and Extreme Response Style in IRTree Models: The Role of Mimicry Effects for the Meaningful Interpretation of Estimates.

Item response tree (IRTree) models are a flexible framework to control self-reported trait measurements for response styles. To this end, IRTree models decompose the responses to rating items into sub-decisions, which are assumed to be made on the basis of either the trait being measured or a response style, whereby the effects of such person parameters can be separated from each other. Here we investigate conditions under which the substantive meanings of estimated extreme response style parameters are potentially invalid and do not correspond to the meanings attributed to them, that is, content-unrelated category preferences. Rather, the response style factor may mimic the trait and capture part of the trait-induced variance in item responding, thus impairing the meaningful separation of the person parameters. Such a mimicry effect is manifested in a biased estimation of the covariance of response style and trait, as well as in an overestimation of the response style variance. Both can lead to severely misleading conclusions drawn from IRTree analyses. A series of simulation studies reveals that mimicry effects depend on the distribution of observed responses and that the estimation biases are stronger the more asymmetrically the responses are distributed across the rating scale. It is further demonstrated that extending the commonly used IRTree model with unidimensional sub-decisions by multidimensional parameterizations counteracts mimicry effects and facilitates the meaningful separation of parameters. An empirical example of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) background questionnaire illustrates the threat of mimicry effects in real data. The implications of applying IRTree models for empirical research questions are discussed.

A comparison of conventional and resampled personal reliability in detecting careless responding.

Detecting careless responding in survey data is important to ensure the credibility of study findings. Of several available detection methods, personal reliability (PR) is one of the best-performing indices. Curran, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 4-19, (2016) proposed a resampled version of personal reliability (RPR). Compared to the conventional PR or even-odd consistency, in which just one set of scale halves is used, RPR is based on repeated calculation of PR across several randomly rearranged sets of scale halves. RPR should therefore be less affected than PR by random errors that may occur when a specific set of scale half pairings is used for the PR calculation. In theory, RPR should outperform PR, but it remains unclear whether it in fact does, and under what conditions the potential gain in detection accuracy is the most pronounced. We conducted two studies: a simulation study examined the performance of the conventional PR and RPR in detecting simulated careless responding, and a real data example study analyzed their performance when detecting human-generated careless responding. In both studies, RPR turned out to be a significantly better careless response indicator than PR. The results also revealed that using 25 resamples for the RPR computation is sufficient to obtain the expected gain in detection accuracy over the conventional PR. We therefore recommend using RPR instead of the conventional PR when screening questionnaire data for careless responding.

Understanding dementia in minority ethnic communities: The perspectives of key stakeholders interviewed as part of the IDEAL programme.

Future populations of older adults in the UK, those aged 65+, will demonstrate increased diversity in terms of their ethnic identity resultant from the ageing of the post-war migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Caribbean. As a consequence, there will be an increase in the numbers of older adults from these communities living with age-related chronic diseases such as dementia. In response to these demographic changes, we need to develop a research, policy and practice agenda that is inclusive and provides evidence for the development of culturally diverse and effective models of service delivery. This requires engagement with three key stakeholder groups: (a) people with dementia; (b) their carers; and (c) the wider community. As part of the IDEAL research programme on living well with dementia, we undertook semi-structured interviews with twelve community leaders, defined as known and trusted individuals active in their respective communities, and six community members (two people living with dementia and four carers). We explored their understandings, experiences, and views of about dementia. Our analysis identified two overarching themes. The migrant lifecourse highlighted issues of not belonging, discrimination and racism. This framed our second theme, the cultural context of dementia, which addressed dementia knowledge and attitudes, service provision and service access, and how being part of a minority ethnic community made a difference to these experiences. Our study highlights how lifecourse experiences of negative hostile social and policy environments and services can be profound and long-lasting and provide a prism through which accessing dementia care is experienced. Our findings argue for the inclusion of diverse views and lifecourse experiences within the context of developing a dementia strategy for research, policy and practice that is appropriate for a multicultural and heterogenous society.

Burden and Inattentive Responding in a 12-Month Intensive Longitudinal Study: Interview Study Among Young Adults.

BACKGROUND: Intensive longitudinal data (ILD) collection methods have gained popularity in social and behavioral research as a tool to better understand behavior and experiences over time with reduced recall bias. Engaging participants in these studies over multiple months and ensuring high data quality are crucial but challenging due to the potential burden of repeated measurements. It is suspected that participants may engage in inattentive responding (IR) behavior to combat burden, but the processes underlying this behavior are unclear as previous studies have focused on the barriers to compliance rather than the barriers to providing high-quality data. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to broaden researchers' knowledge about IR during ILD studies using qualitative analysis and uncover the underlying IR processes to aid future hypothesis generation. METHODS: We explored the process of IR by conducting semistructured qualitative exit interviews with 31 young adult participants (aged 18-29 years) who completed a 12-month ILD health behavior study with daily evening smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys and 4-day waves of hourly EMA surveys. The interviews assessed participants' motivations, the impact of time-varying contexts, changes in motivation and response patterns over time, and perceptions of attention check questions (ACQs) to understand participants' response patterns and potential factors leading to IR. RESULTS: Thematic analysis revealed 5 overarching themes on factors that influence participant engagement: (1) friends and family also had to tolerate the frequent surveys, (2) participants tried to respond to surveys quickly, (3) the repetitive nature of surveys led to neutral responses, (4) ACQs within the surveys helped to combat overly consistent response patterns, and (5) different motivations for answering the surveys may have led to different levels of data quality. CONCLUSIONS: This study aimed to examine participants' perceptions of the quality of data provided in an ILD study to contribute to the field's understanding of engagement. These findings provide insights into the complex process of IR and participant engagement in ILD studies with EMA. The study identified 5 factors influencing IR that could guide future research to improve EMA survey design. The identified themes offer practical implications for researchers and study designers, including the importance of considering social context, the consideration of dynamic motivations, and the potential benefit of including ACQs as a technique to reduce IR and leveraging the intrinsic motivators of participants. By incorporating these insights, researchers might maximize the scientific value of their multimonth ILD studies through better data collection protocols. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/36666.

Careless responding detection revisited: Accuracy of direct and indirect measures.

To screen for careless responding, researchers have a choice between several direct measures (i.e., bogus items, requiring the respondent to choose a specific answer) and indirect measures (i.e., unobtrusive post hoc indices). Given the dearth of research in the area, we examined how well direct and indirect indices perform relative to each other. In five experimental studies, we investigated whether the detection rates of the measures are affected by contextual factors: severity of the careless response pattern, type of item keying, and type of item presentation. We fully controlled the information environment by experimentally inducing careless response sets under a variety of contextual conditions. In Studies 1 and 2, participants rated the personality of an actor that presented himself in a 5-min-long videotaped speech. In Studies 3, 4, and 5, participants had to rate their own personality across two measurements. With the exception of maximum longstring, intra-individual response variability, and individual contribution to model misfit, all examined indirect indices performed better than chance in most of the examined conditions. Moreover, indirect indices had detection rates as good as and, in many cases, better than the detection rates of direct measures. We therefore encourage researchers to use indirect indices, especially within-person consistency indices, instead of direct measures.

Research on the relationship between nurses' emergency public health response capacity and workplace resilience: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing nurses' ability to respond to public health emergencies and understand the relationship between nurses' ability to respond to emergencies and workplace resilience. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 361 nurses from military hospitals was conducted from January 18 to September 6, 2022, using an online survey. The Infectious Diseases Emergency Response Capacity (IDERC) questionnaire and the Workplace Resilience Scale (WRS) were utilized, and sociodemographic information was also collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and frequency analysis. Differences between groups were identified by one-way analysis of variance, and linear regression was used to analyze the main factors influencing the infectious emergency response capacity. Results: The average infectious emergency response capacity score on the IDERC questionnaire and workplace resilience, measured by WRS, were 4.01 (SD = 0.76) and 3.85 (SD = 0.71), respectively, on a scale of 1-5, indicating high performance. Factors such as degree of education, nurses' service years and experience in epidemic prevention participation were found to be the main influencing factors of the score of IDERC. The level of workplace resilience showed a positive correlation with the capacity to respond to infectious disease, the score of WRS and the service year accounted for 63.6% of the variance in emergency response capabilities. Conclusion: The results indicate an urgent need to strengthen the training of nurses with lower degree of education, shorter service years, no prior work, or no experience of epidemic prevention participation, and hospitals should also prioritize improving nurses' workplace resilience through targeted interventions, enhancing their abilities in infectious disease prevention, preparation, first aid, and subsequent critical patient care.

Behavioral and Emotional Responding to Punishment in ADHD: Is Increased Emotionality Related to Altered Behavioral Responding?

Children with ADHD are theorized to experience increased negative emotional responses to punishment, compared to typically developing (TD) children, resulting in altered behavioral responding (Amsel, 1992). However, this has not been empirically tested. The current study evaluated the effects of punishment and reward on the behavioral and emotional responding of children with and without ADHD. Fifty-three children with ADHD (64.15% boys) and 46 TD children (47.83% boys), age 6-12, completed a task in which they chose between playing two simultaneously available games. Reward was arranged symmetrically across the games; responses on one game were punished four times as often as responses on the other game. Children's negative and positive emotional expressions were assessed during task completion with facial expression coding. Results indicated both groups showed a preference for playing the less punished game. Children with ADHD took longer to respond after punishment and reward compared to TD children. Negative emotional expressions increased with time on task for those with ADHD, the opposite pattern was seen in TD children. Children with ADHD showed more positive emotional expressions overall. The effect of ADHD on increased response times after reward was statistically fully mediated by increased positive facial expressions. Findings indicate children with ADHD do not show an altered response bias under punishment compared to TD children, but their cumulative negative emotional responding may indicate problems with building frustration tolerance as hypothesized by Amsel (1992). Results are theoretically important as they suggest increased emotional responding in ADHD is associated with slower responding.

Adult attachment assessed via the ASA and AAI: Empirical convergence and links with autonomic physiological responding during attachment assessments.

This study examined the empirical convergence of Attachment Script Assessment (ASA) deactivation, hyperactivation, and anomalous scripts with conceptually corresponding attachment patterns assessed via the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and the significance of ASA dimensions for autonomic physiological reactivity during adult attachment assessments. Young adults' (50% male; Mage = 19 years; 80% White/European American) ASA deactivation, hyperactivation, and anomalous content were significantly associated with AAI dismissing (r = .26-.38), preoccupied (r = .31-.35), and unresolved (r = .37) states of mind, respectively. ASA hyperactivation and anomalous content were associated with heightened RSA reactivity to the AAI and ASA, aligning with expectations that these attachment patterns capture the tendency to heighten expressions of negative, traumatic experiences. ASA deactivation was associated with smaller increases in electrodermal activity to the ASA-indicative of less sympathetic arousal-converging with the tendency of individuals higher in deactivation to avoid discussing attachment themes in the ASA.

Attitudes among physicians towards transgender and gender diverse people in Turkey: Relationship with religiousness, political view and conservatism.

According to several recent studies, physicians in various medical branches have some differences in attitudes towards transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) persons based on religious or political beliefs. Our study aims to uncover the attitudes of the general physician community in Turkey, which has a youthful profile, regarding TGD individuals. The attitudes towards transgender individuals scale (ATTI) and the general conservatism scale, along with a form that asks about socio-demographic factors, political beliefs, and level of religion, were administered online to physicians. The ATTI score of physicians (mean = 77.8) is favourable and did not vary among branches. Being female, being close to TGD, having left-wing views, low conservatism and low religious belief scores were associated with positive attitudes towards TGD individuals. The physician profile's moderate religious belief and left-wing views can be interpreted as a country-specific dynamic and did not prevent the approach from being positive. Despite physicians' positive attitude towards TGD individuals on a professional level, there is resistance to contacting them in their daily lives. The possibility of the partial contribution of socially desirable response behaviour to positive scores should not be ignored.

Validating the IDRIS and IDRIA: Two infrequency/frequency scales for detecting careless and insufficient effort survey responders.

To detect careless and insufficient effort (C/IE) survey responders, researchers can use infrequency items - items that almost no one agrees with (e.g., "When a friend greets me, I generally try to say nothing back") - and frequency items - items that almost everyone agrees with (e.g., "I try to listen when someone I care about is telling me something"). Here, we provide initial validation for two sets of these items: the 14-item Invalid Responding Inventory for Statements (IDRIS) and the 6-item Invalid Responding Inventory for Adjectives (IDRIA). Across six studies (N1 = 536; N2 = 701; N3 = 500; N4 = 499; N5 = 629, N6 = 562), we found consistent evidence that the IDRIS is capable of detecting C/IE responding among statement-based scales (e.g., the HEXACO-PI-R) and the IDRIA is capable of detecting C/IE responding among both adjective-based scales (e.g., the Lex-20) and adjective-derived scales (e.g., the BFI-2). These findings were robust across different analytic approaches (e.g., Pearson correlations; Spearman rank-order correlations), different indices of C/IE responding (e.g., person-total correlations; semantic synonyms; horizontal cursor variability), and different sample types (e.g., US undergraduate students; Nigerian survey panel participants). Taken together, these results provide promising evidence for the utility of the IDRIS and IDRIA in detecting C/IE responding.

Callous-unemotional traits and pre-ejection period in response to reward.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits have important utility in distinguishing individuals exhibiting more severe and persistent antisocial behavior, and our understanding of reward processing and CU traits contributes to behavioral modification. However, research on CU traits often investigated reward alongside punishment and examined solely on average reward reactivity, neglecting the reward response pattern over time such as habituation. This study assessed individuals' pre-ejection period (PEP), a sympathetic nervous system cardiac-linked biomarker with specificity to reward, during a simple reward task to investigate the association between CU traits and both average reward reactivity and reward response pattern over time (captured as responding trajectory). A heterogeneous sample of 126 adult males was recruited from a major metropolitan area in the US. Participants reported their CU traits using the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits and completed a simple reward task while impedance cardiography and electrocardiogram were recorded to derive PEP. The results revealed no significant association between average PEP reward reactivity and CU traits. However, CU traits predicted both linear and quadratic slopes of the PEP reactivity trajectory: individuals with higher CU traits had slower habituation initially, followed by a rapid habituation in later blocks. Findings highlight the importance of modeling the trajectory of PEP reward response when studying CU traits. We discussed the implications of individuals with high CU traits having the responding pattern of slower initial habituation followed by rapid habituation to reward and the possible mechanisms.

Identifying Disengaged Responding in Multiple-Choice Items: Extending a Latent Class Item Response Model With Novel Process Data Indicators.

Disengaged responding poses a severe threat to the validity of educational large-scale assessments, because item responses from unmotivated test-takers do not reflect their actual ability. Existing identification approaches rely primarily on item response times, which bears the risk of misclassifying fast engaged or slow disengaged responses. Process data with its rich pool of additional information on the test-taking process could thus be used to improve existing identification approaches. In this study, three process data variables-text reread, item revisit, and answer change-were introduced as potential indicators of response engagement for multiple-choice items in a reading comprehension test. An extended latent class item response model for disengaged responding was developed by including the three new indicators as additional predictors of response engagement. In a sample of 1,932 German university students, the extended model indicated a better model fit than the baseline model, which included item response time as only indicator of response engagement. In the extended model, both item response time and text reread were significant predictors of response engagement. However, graphical analyses revealed no systematic differences in the item and person parameter estimation or item response classification between the models. These results suggest only a marginal improvement of the identification of disengaged responding by the new indicators. Implications of these results for future research on disengaged responding with process data are discussed.

A Comparison of Response Time Threshold Scoring Procedures in Mitigating Bias From Rapid Guessing Behavior.

Rapid guessing (RG) is a form of non-effortful responding that is characterized by short response latencies. This construct-irrelevant behavior has been shown in previous research to bias inferences concerning measurement properties and scores. To mitigate these deleterious effects, a number of response time threshold scoring procedures have been proposed, which recode RG responses (e.g., treat them as incorrect or missing, or impute probable values) and then estimate parameters for the recoded dataset using a unidimensional or multidimensional IRT model. To date, there have been limited attempts to compare these methods under the possibility that RG may be misclassified in practice. To address this shortcoming, the present simulation study compared item and ability parameter recovery for four scoring procedures by manipulating sample size, the linear relationship between RG propensity and ability, the percentage of RG responses, and the type and rate of RG misclassifications. Results demonstrated two general trends. First, across all conditions, treating RG responses as incorrect produced the largest degree of combined systematic and random error (larger than ignoring RG). Second, the remaining scoring approaches generally provided equal accuracy in parameter recovery when RG was perfectly identified; however, the multidimensional IRT approach was susceptible to increased error as misclassification rates grew. Overall, the findings suggest that recoding RG as missing and employing a unidimensional IRT model is a promising approach.

On assessing trait rumination using the Ruminative Response Scale.

Introduction: This study explores the stability of scores on psychometrically validated trait questionnaires over time. We illustrate potential pitfalls through a larger study that used the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) to categorize participants prior to study inclusion into two groups based on their habitual tendency to ruminate. Surprisingly, when we re-administered the RRS at the start of an experimental session, significant score changes occurred, resulting in participants shifting between the two groups. Methods: To address this, we modified our recruitment process, aiming to reduce careless responses, including an online RRS assessment a week before the lab appointment. We analyzed the different samples prior to and after changing the recruitment procedure, as well as the total sample regarding the psychometric properties of the RRS. We also explored various indices to identify and predict score changes due to careless responding; however, only a subgroup of participants was successfully identified. Results: Our findings suggest that Mahalanobis distances are effective for identifying substantial score changes, with baseline state rumination emerging as a marginally significant predictor. Discussion: We discuss the importance of conducting manipulation checks and offer practical implications for research involving psychometrically validated trait questionnaires.

Assessing Implicit Theories in Sexual Offending Using Indirect Measures: Feasibility, Reliability, and Incremental Validity.

This study assessed psychometric qualities of indirect measures assessing Implicit Theories (ITs) of sexual offending: Implicit Association Task (IAT), Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), and Relational Responding Task (RRT). For comparison reasons, aggressive behavior was also assessed. In a male sample from the general population (N = 109), we assessed each measure's (a) feasibility (mean latency, error rate, passing criteria), (b) internal consistency, (c) convergent and discriminant validity, and (d) incremental and predictive validity. Results indicated that no indirect measure met all criteria. Although the IAT was reasonably feasible and reliable in measuring aggression, ITs could not be reliably assessed. The RRT was feasible and somewhat reliable in assessing ITs, whereas the IRAP showed limited feasibility, high task complexity, low reliability, and the presence of a method factor. No measure had incremental predictive validity over the use of self-report measures, although we note that the power to detect such associations was limited. As none of the indirect measures performed satisfactorily on the measured criteria, the use of these measures in clinical practice seems currently unwarranted to assess ITs.

Linking grandiose and vulnerable narcissism to managerial work performance, through the lens of core personality traits and social desirability.

While grandiose narcissism is well-studied, vulnerable narcissism remains largely unexplored in the workplace context. Our study aimed to compare grandiose and vulnerable narcissism among managers and people from the general population. Within the managerial sample, our objective was to examine how these traits diverge concerning core personality traits and socially desirable responses. Furthermore, we endeavored to explore their associations with individual managerial performance, encompassing task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Involving a pool of managerial participants (N = 344), we found that compared to the general population, managers exhibited higher levels of grandiose narcissism and lower levels of vulnerable narcissism. While both narcissistic variants had a minimal correlation (r = .02) with each other, they differentially predicted work performance. Notably, grandiose narcissism did not significantly predict any work performance dimension, whereas vulnerable narcissism, along with neuroticism, predicted higher CWB and lower task performance. Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest predictor of task performance. This study suggests that organizations might not benefit from managers with vulnerable narcissism. Understanding these distinct narcissistic variants offers insights into their impacts on managerial performance in work settings.

Deictic Relational Responding and Perspective-Taking in Autistic Individuals: A Scoping Review.

Perspective-taking skills are crucial for successful social interactions and some autistic individuals seem to demonstrate great difficulty in this area. The concept continues to generate clinical and research interest across mainstream psychology and within behavior analysis. Within behavior analysis, relational frame theorists have argued that deictic relational responding is critically involved in perspective-taking. We conducted a systematic search of the behavior analytic studies on deictic relational responding and perspective-taking in autistic individuals to highlight methods used to test perspective-taking and deictic relations, methods to train these if deficits were observed, and evidence for a relationship between deictic relational responding and perspective-taking. Seven studies met inclusion criteria and we conducted a descriptive analysis of these studies. We found some variation in the methods used to test and train perspective-taking through deictic relations. Only three of the studies attempted to demonstrate a link between deictic relational responding and perspective-taking. Overall, our review highlighted a need for more research into deictic relational responding and perspective-taking in autistic individuals, and we discussed specific areas for future research.

Dissecting the Mechanisms of Intestinal Immune Homeostasis by Analyzing T-Cell Immune Response in Crohn's Disease and Colorectal Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Crohn's disease (CD) and colorectal cancer (CRC) represent a group of intestinal disorders characterized by intricate pathogenic mechanisms linked to the disruption of intestinal immune homeostasis. Therefore, comprehending the immune response mechanisms in both categories of intestinal disorders is of paramount significance in the prevention and treatment of these debilitating intestinal ailments. METHOD: IIn this study, we conducted single-cell analysis on paired samples obtained from primary colorectal tumors and individuals with Crohn's disease, which was aimed at deciphering the factors influencing the composition of the intestinal immune microenvironment. By aligning T cells across different tissues, we identified various T cell subtypes, such as γδ T cell, NK T cell, and regulatory T (Treg) cell, which maintained immune system homeostasis and were confirmed in enrichment analyses. Subsequently, we generated pseudo-time trajectories for subclusters of T cells in both syndromes to delineate their differentiation patterns and identify key driver genes Result: Furthermore, cellular communication and transcription factor regulatory networks are all essential components of the intricate web of mechanisms that regulate intestinal immune homeostasis. The identified complex cellular interaction suggested potential T-lineage immunotherapeutic targets against epithelial cells with high copy number variation (CNV) levels in CD and CRC. CONCLUSION: Finally, the analysis of regulon networks revealed several promising candidates for cell-specific transcription factors (TFs). This study focused on the immune molecular mechanism under intestinal diseases. It contributed to the novel insight of depicting a detailed immune landscape and revealing T-cell responding mechanisms in CD and CRC.