Evaluating the factor structure and measurement invariance of the 20-item short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale across multiple countries, languages, and gender identities.

The UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Model and the various psychometric instruments developed and validated based on this model are well established in clinical and research settings. However, evidence regarding the psychometric validity, reliability, and equivalence across multiple countries of residence, languages, or gender identities, including gender-diverse individuals, is lacking to date. Using data from the International Sex Survey (N = 82,243), confirmatory factor analyses and measurement invariance analyses were performed on the preestablished five-factor structure of the 20-item short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale to examine whether (a) psychometric validity and reliability and (b) psychometric equivalence hold across 34 country-of-residence-related, 22 language-related, and three gender-identity-related groups. The results of the present study extend the latter psychometric instrument's well-established relevance to 26 countries, 13 languages, and three gender identities. Most notably, psychometric validity and reliability were evidenced across nine novel translations included in the present study (i.e., Croatian, English, German, Hebrew, Korean, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese-Portugal, and Spanish-Latin American) and psychometric equivalence was evidenced across all three gender identities included in the present study (i.e., women, men, and gender-diverse individuals).

Development and initial validation of the Career Self-Management scale for Chinese coaches.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop and initially validate a context-specific scale assessing Career Self-Management for Chinese coaches (Career Self-Management Scale-CC; CSMS-CC). Methods: Firstly, qualitative data obtained from in-depth interview with coaches were contently analyzed to generate potential CSMS-CC items. The content validity of the items was evaluated by a panel of experts. Secondly, the factor structure and item performance of the CSMS-CC were examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and internal consistency reliability of its subscales were evaluated in sample 1 (n = 229, 24.01% females). Thirdly, factor structure of the CSMS-CC was further examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in sample 2 (n = 295, 32.54% females). Internal consistency reliability was evaluated using Cronbach' alpha coefficient and composite reliability. Nomological validity was examined using Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM) by investigating the correlations between CSMS-CC subscales with career success. Finally, measurement invariance and latent mean difference of the CSMS-CC was examined across gender, professional title and coaching class using multiple-group CFA (MGCFA). Results: Based on the results of the content analysis and content validity evaluation, 18 CSMS-CC items were retained for further analysis. Results of EFA in sample 1 revealed that eight items were problematic and removed. The second round of EFA revealed that three components were retained and labelled as Networking Behavior (4 items), Training Exploration (3 items), and Guanxi Development (3 items). Results of CFA in sample 2 suggested that the 10-item three-correlated-factors model of CSMS-CC demonstrated acceptable model fit to the data, χ2 = 135.01, df = 32, p < 0.01, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.05, RMSEA = 0.092 (90% CI = 0.076-0.108). Composite reliability (ranging from 0.84 to 0.88) and Cronbach's alpha coefficients (ranging from 0.78 to 0.81) of three subscales were found satisfactory. Nomological validity was supported by the results that total score and subscale scores of the CSMS-CC were significantly associated with internal marketability and external marketability. It was found that the CSMS-CC measurement model was strict invariant across gender, professional title and coaching class. Significant differences on all three subscales across professional title and on Guanxi development across coaching class were revealed. Conclusion: Results of this study provided initial support for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CSMS-CC, which suggested that the CSMS-CC could be used for measuring the career self-management of Chinese coaches.

Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Translated Athlete Burnout Questionnaire: Evidence From Chinese Collegiate Athletes and Elite Athletes.

The purpose of the study was to translate the athlete burnout questionnaire (ABQ) into Simplified Chinese and examine its psychometric properties in Chinese collegiate athletes and elite athletes. Firstly, the factor structure, internal consistency reliability and nomological validity of the Chinese translated ABQ was examined in a sample of Chinese collegiate athletes (n = 214, 58.9% females). Secondly, abovementioned psychometric properties were examined in a sample of Chinese elite athletes (n = 505, 52.7% females). Finally, measurement invariance of the Chinese translated ABQ was examined across the two samples. It was found that the 12-item three-correlated-factors model outperformed the one factor model and bi-factor model in collegiate athlete sample whereas the 12-item bi-factor model best represented the factor structure of the Chinese translated ABQ in elite athlete sample. Satisfactory internal consistency reliabilities of the Chinese translated ABQ were evidenced in the two samples. Nomological validity was also supported by the results of the two samples that the three subscales of the ABQ were significantly associated with its theoretically related variables. Results of multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis revealed that weak measurement invariance of the Chinese translated ABQ (three-correlated-factors model) was evidenced across the two samples. Collectively, results of this study indicated that the 12-item Chinese translated ABQ could be used for measuring burnout of Chinese collegiate and elite athletes. Significance and implication of the current study as well as recommendations for future study were discussed.

The Robust Italian Validation of the Coping Humor Scale (RI-CHS) for Adult Health Care Workers.

The Coping Humor Scale (CHS) is a seven-item tool widely used to assess the use of humor in coping with stressful situations. The beneficial effect of humor in buffering the impact of negative experiences has been investigated in several contexts and populations; for this reason, the CHS has been used in many languages, but its solid validation in Italian is still missing. Our study aimed at building a robust instrument to measure coping humor strategies among Italian health care workers, a category which has been particularly exposed to stressful situations in the last two years. The CHS translated into Italian was administered to a sample of 735 health care workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis were performed. As a result, a six-item Robust Italian Coping Humor Scale (RI-CHS) was validated and ready to use for future studies on Italian health care workers' samples. This study gives evidence that our six-item solution works as a ruler (i.e., an instrument that meets the conditions of fundamental measurement in the context of the human sciences) to measure the degree to which Italian health care workers rely on humor to cope with stress.

Effects of Passion, Experience, and Cultural Politics on Classical Musicians' Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The widespread cancelation of cultural events during the early 2020 stages of the COVID-19 pandemic led professional performing musicians across the world to experience an increasing economic fragility that threatened their health and wellbeing. Within this "new normal," developing countries have been at a higher risk due to their vulnerable health systems and cultural policies. Even in such difficult times, the music profession requires musicians to keep up their practicing routines, even if they have no professional commitments. This is because high level technical and expressive skills are crucial to sustaining a music career at a high performance level. However, it could be expected that not all musicians might have had the same engagement with music practice during lockdowns. In this study, we studied the experiences of 309 professional classical musicians based in European and Latin American countries with different levels of performing experience to examine their passionate (or lack thereof) engagement with music practice. Through the mixed methods combination of multigroup invariance and narrative analyses, we identified distinct profiles of musicians who displayed more harmonious or more obsessive passion orientations before and at the peak of the pandemic. We observed that musicians with higher levels of harmonious passion in particular were more capable of sustaining their practice at the peak of the pandemic and that these musicians were mostly located in Latin America-a paradox, considering that cultural politics supporting the careers of professional performing musicians and entrepreneurial education in Latin America are lacking to a great extent, especially in comparison with the European context. We explain this in terms of the "forced" self-management embraced by musicians in Latin American countries who want to engage with music practice both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic even if the music profession does not generate enough revenue for them.

Development and Validation of the Robust - Pandemic Coping Scale (R-PCS).

The psychological consequences of epidemics/pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, include an increase in psychopathological symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and stress, and negative emotions, such as fear. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how people cope with the pandemic. Coping is a multi-component process, helping to diminish the traumatic impact of stressful events in a variety of ways. We studied how university students coped with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, by developing the Robust - Pandemic Coping Scale (R-PCS), a new scale for measuring coping strategies related to epidemics/pandemics. The scale is based on a classification of coping strategies referred to the needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. To create a robust scale, such that the item values would be independent of the sample used for developing it, we employed Rasch modeling. We used a sample of 2,987 Italian university students who participated in an online survey including the R-PCS and the Power to Live with Disasters Questionnaire (PLDQ), during March 2020. First, we applied a dual approach combining exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which supported the goodness of a 4-factor model (i.e., Despair, Adjustment, Proactivity, and Aversion) for the R-PCS, invariant across gender and age of respondents (younger or as old as 23 years, older than 23 years). We then transformed the raw scores of the R-PCS into interval logit scale scores applying the Rasch model. Second, our findings supported the discriminant validity and the criterion validity of the R-PCS, examining the correlations with the PLDQ. They also confirmed its predictive validity: the R-PCS scores were related to 2-month-later enjoyment and anger, indicating that Adjustment and Proactivity were adaptive while Despair and Aversion were maladaptive. Third, our study revealed gender and age differences: the scores were higher for Despair, Adjustment, and Proactivity for females; for Aversion for males; and for Proactivity for students older than 23 years. The study suffers from limitations related to social desirability, gender imbalance, and self-selection effects in the recruitment.

Consequences of Ignoring Guessing Effects on Measurement Invariance Analysis.

Pseudo-guessing parameters are present in item response theory applications for many educational assessments. When sample size is not sufficiently large, the guessing parameters may be ignored from the analysis. This study examines the impact of ignoring pseudo-guessing parameters on measurement invariance analysis, specifically, on item difficulty, item discrimination, and mean and variance of ability distribution. Results show that when non-zero guessing parameters are ignored from the measurement invariance analysis, item discrimination estimates tend to decrease particularly for more difficult items, and item difficulty estimates decrease unless the items are highly discriminating and difficult. As the guessing parameter increases, the size of the decrease in item discrimination and difficulty tends to increase, and the estimated mean and variance of ability distribution tend to be inaccurate. When two groups have heterogeneous ability distributions, ignoring the guessing parameter affects the reference group and the focal group differently. Implications of result findings are discussed.

Psychometric Analysis of a German-Language Version of the Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict Scale.

The Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict Scale (WFC & FWC Scale) is a questionnaire commonly used to assess conflicts that arise when required time devotion and strain for work obligations interfere with family responsibilities (work-family conflict) and conflicts that arise when family responsibilities interfere with work responsiblities (family work conflict). Past reports on the psychometric properties and recommendations for application of the WFC & FWC Scale mostly rely on samples from the United States. The current study is the first to report psychometric properties of a German-language version of the WFC & FWC Scale, including invariance analyses across women and men, and test-retest reliabilities. The analysis of the latent structure that was based on responses from 274 employes (77.0% women, 23.0% men) of a medical university in Austria revealed that the bifactor model had a satisfactory fit with the data. Configural and metric invariance indicated a similar factor structure and similar meaning in women and men. However, scalar invariance cannot be assumed. Thus, differences in scale scores between women and men might not adequately reflect level differences in the underlying latent factor. High internal consistencies and high test-retest reliabilities offer evidence for adequate reliability. Additionally, evidence for convergent (links to work stress and relationship satisfaction) and divergent validity (no links to career ambition) were found. In summary, the current study offers adequate evidence for validity and reliability of a German-language version of the WFC & FWC Scale.

Assessing Online Flow Across Cultures: A Two-Fold Measurement Invariance Study.

The association between online Flow and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has attracted significant attention. Despite the consensus that online Flow plays a pivotal role in the development of IGD and other Internet addictive behaviors, there has been a lack of consistency in measurement scales used to assess online Flow. Even widely used measures of online Flow have not been psychometrically assessed across culturally diverse populations of gamers. Such an assessment would enhance the accuracy of cross-cultural comparisons. Attending to this need, the present study assessed the psychometric properties of the binary coded (i.e., Yes, No) Online Flow Questionnaire (OFQ), while concurrently taking into consideration country, age, language, and mode of data collection (online or face-to-face) differences. Two sequences of successive multiple group confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the psychometric properties of the OFQ, between: (a) emergent adults from the United States of America (N = 482, Mage = 25.23, SD = 2.746) and Australia (N = 168, Mage = 23.55, SD = 3.37) and (b) adolescents from Greece (N = 1579, Mage = 16.12, SD = 0.849) and Cyprus (N = 1372, Mage = 15.54, SD = 0.656). Configural and partial metric invariance were confirmed between the United States and Australian samples. For the Greek and Cypriot samples, results indicated full configural and metric invariance. These results provide initial information to researchers and clinicians of the extent to which the OFQ maintains its consistency when used across cultures and invite for further cross-cultural studies in the field. Implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.

Derivation, Replication, and Validity Analyses of a Screener for the Behavioral Assessment of Executive Functions in Young Adults.

Ecologically valid indicators of executive functions are designed to capture dysfunction not easily measured in a lab setting. Here, we present two studies on the development and validity analyses of a behavioral screener for executive functions among young adults. In Study 1, we derived a four-factor (problem solving, attentional control, behavioral control, and emotional control) behavioral screener using a sample of 765 individuals. We used invariance analyses to evaluate the screener's measurement reliability across sex. In Study 2, we replicated the screener derivation analyses using an independent sample of 197 undergraduates. To further examine the screener's validity, we evaluated it against a well-known executive functions rating scale. The four-factor model was supported in both samples and analyses provided support for this screener as a valid and reliable measure for everyday executive functions among young adults.

Psychometric Properties of the Flourishing Scale and Measurement Invariance Between Two Samples of Spanish University Students.

The Flourishing Scale (FS), created by Diener et al., is a brief subjective perception measurement which assesses flourishing and provides a single score across 8 items. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the FS. Participants were 1,502 university students from different faculties and fields of knowledge. The results reveal good internal consistency. The single factor structure of the FS was supported by the multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, which also provided evidence of the invariant structure of the scale across two subsamples. The scale's convergent validity with another measure of psychological well-being and its discriminant validity with the depression, anxiety, and stress symptom scale were demonstrated through the significant correlations observed with said measures. The FS was found to be apt for use in evaluating general well-being in the Spanish population and may be considered a reliable measure in future well-being studies. It can also be used as an instrument for planning, executing, and/or assessing practical interventions in social, care, and health-related programs.

Factor structure and invariance analysis of the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale - revised (CESD-R) in a Brazilian population / Estrutura Fatorial e Análise de Invariância da Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale - Revised (CESD-R) em uma População Brasileira

Abstract Introduction: The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale - Revised (CESD-R) was developed to provide an efficient screening scale for depression syndrome, mimicking the original CESD, one of the most widely used screening tools to measure depressive symptoms globally. This investigation examined the factor structure of the CESD-R with a non-clinical Brazilian population. Method: We performed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of two adult samples, and also conducted invariance analysis by sex and place of residence of the participants. The full sample consisted of 1,427 adults, divided into two groups. The first sample (n = 400) was used for the EFA and the second sample (n = 1027) for the CFA. Results: The EFA indicated an internal structure composed of a single factor, which explained 53.2% of the variance. The CFA attested to the unidimensionality of the measure. Fit indices and reliability indicators showed values higher than expected, without modifications in the initial structure. The model was invariant in relation to the variables investigated at four different levels (configural, metric, scalar, and strict). Conclusions: Our findings support the utility of the CESD-R and suggest its validity for application to the Brazilian population in general.

Resumo Introdução: A Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale - Revised (CESD-R) foi elaborada para fornecer um eficiente diagnóstico de sintomas de depressão, seguindo a proposta original da CESD, que é uma das escalas para rastreamento da depressão mais utilizadas mundialmente. Esta pesquisa avaliou a estrutura fatorial da CESD-R em uma população não-clínica no Brasil. Método: Realizaram-se análises fatoriais exploratória (AFE) e confirmatória (AFC) com duas amostras compostas por adultos. Também foi verificada a invariância do modelo por sexo e local de residência do participante. A amostra total foi composta por 1427 adultos, tendo sido dividida em duas subamostras. A primeira subamostra (n = 400) foi utilizada para a AFE e a segunda (n = 1027) para a AFC. Resultados: A AFE indicou uma estrutura interna composta por um único fator, que explicou 53.2% de variância. A AFC atestou unidimensionalidade da medida. Os índices de ajuste e indicadores de confiabilidade apresentaram valores acima do esperado, sem modificações na estrutura inicial. O modelo foi invariante em relação às variáveis investigadas em quatro diferentes níveis (configural, métrico, escalar e estrito). Conclusões: Os presentes achados suportam a utilidade da CESD-R e sugerem sua validade para aplicação na população brasileira.