Psychometric Investigation of the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices Test in a Sample of Preschool Children.

The present study investigated the psychometric properties of the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) test in a sample of preschoolers from Brazil (n = 582; age: mean = 57 months, SD = 7 months; 46% female). We investigated the plausibility of unidimensionality of the items (confirmatory factor analysis) and differential item functioning (DIF) for sex and age (multiple indicators multiple causes method). We tested four unidimensional models and the one with the best-fit index was a reduced form of the Raven's CPM. The DIF analysis was carried out with the reduced form of the test. A few items presented DIF (two for sex and one for age), confirming that the Raven's CPM items are mostly measurement invariant. There was no effect of sex on the general factor, but increasing age was associated with higher values of the g factor. Future research should indicate if the reduced form is suitable for evaluating the general ability of preschoolers.

Assessing Music Perception in Young Children: Evidence for and Psychometric Features of the M-Factor.

Given the relationship between language acquisition and music processing, musical perception (MP) skills have been proposed as a tool for early diagnosis of speech and language difficulties; therefore, a psychometric instrument is needed to assess music perception in children under 10 years of age, a crucial period in neurodevelopment. We created a set of 80 musical stimuli encompassing seven domains of music perception to inform perception of tonal, atonal, and modal stimuli, in a random sample of 1006 children, 6-13 years of age, equally distributed from first to fifth grades, from 14 schools (38% private schools) in So Paulo State. The underlying model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. A model encompassing seven orthogonal specific domains (contour, loudness, scale, timbre, duration, pitch, and meter) and one general music perception factor, the "m-factor," showed excellent fit indices. The m-factor, previously hypothesized in the literature but never formally tested, explains 93% of the reliable variance in measurement, while only 3.9% of the reliable variance could be attributed to the multidimensionality caused by the specific domains. The 80 items showed no differential item functioning based on sex, age, or enrolment in public vs. private school, demonstrating the important psychometric feature of invariance. Like Charles Spearman's g-factor of intelligence, the m-factor is robust and reliable. It provides a convenient measure of auditory stimulus apprehension that does not rely on verbal information, offering a new opportunity to probe biological and psychological relationships with music perception phenomena and the etiologies of speech and language disorders.

Longitudinal Pathways to Educational Attainment for Youth in Mexican and Central American Immigrant Families.

Mexican and Central American-origin youth in immigrant families, the fastest growing segment of the K-12 school population, experience considerably worse educational outcomes than do youth from other Latino national origins and other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Socioeconomic factors, as well as length of U.S. residence, have important implications for youth's academic success. The present study uses longitudinal structural equation modeling techniques to identify how parents' socioeconomic status (SES) and youth's length of U.S. residence are associated with adolescent academic outcomes and, in turn, educational attainment in adulthood. The sample included 1,207 Mexican- and Central American-origin youth participants in the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS). Youth completed surveys at times corresponding roughly to ages 13 to 15 (Time 1), 16 to 18 (Time 2), and 23 to 25 (Time 3). When compared with youth with a longer duration of U.S. residence, young people who had lived in the U.S. for less than 5 years at Time 1 reported higher educational attainment at Time 3 by way of a better grade-point average (GPA) and higher educational expectations at Time 1. Parent SES was associated directly and indirectly with higher educational attainment through youth's greater educational expectations at Times 1 and 2. Although recent immigrant youth experienced sharper declines in GPA and educational expectations from Time 1 to Time 2 than youth with a longer duration of U.S. residence, newcomer youth's early academic success appears to have lasting benefits for educational attainment.

Los jóvenes de familias inmigrantes de origen mexicano y centro-americano, el segmento de la población escolar K-12 que más rápido crece, experimentan claramente peores resultados académicos que los jóvenes de otros orígenes latinos y de otros orígenes raciales y étnicos. Los factores socioeconómicos, así como el tiempo de residencia en los Estados Unidos (EEUU), tienen importantes implicaciones para el éxito académico de los jóvenes. El presente estudio utiliza técnicas longitudinales del modelo de ecuaciones estructurales para identificar cómo el estatus socioeconómico de los padres (SES) y el tiempo de residencia de los jóvenes en EEUU durante los años de adolescencia están asociados con los resulted académicos y, por tanto, con el rendimiento educativo alcanzado por estos jóvenes en la edad adulta. La muestra incluyó 1207 jóvenes de origen mexicano y centro-americano participantes en el Estudio Longitudinal de Hijos de Inmigrantes. Los jóvenes completaron cuestionarios aproximadamente entre los 13 y 15 años de edad (Tiempo 1), 16 y 18 (Tiempo 2) y 23 y 25 (Tiempo 3). Comparados con los jóvenes con más tiempo de residencia en los EEUU, los jóvenes que habían vivido en los EEUU menos de 5 años en el Tiempo 1 presentaron mayor rendimiento educativo por medio de una mayor GPA y una mayor expectativa educativa en el Tiempo 1. Mayor SES estuvo directamente e indirectamente asociado con mayor rendimiento educativo a través de una mayor expectativa educativa de los jóvenes en Tiempo 1 y 2. Aunque los jóvenes inmigrantes recién llegados experimentaron un descenso más brusco tanto en GPA como en expectativa educativa desde el Tiempo 1 al Tiempo 2 en comparación con los jóvenes con períodos de residencia más largos en EEUU, los resultados académicos positivos en el Tiempo 1 de los jóvenes inmigrantes recién llegados parecen tener beneficios duraderos para el rendimiento educativo en la edad adulta.

Innovations in Measurement: visual Analog Scales and Retrospective Pretest Self-Report Designs

The authors discuss limitations of two popular measurement procedures, the Likert scale and conventional pretest-posttest self-report design. Both techniques have limits and yet are often combined, leading to restricted fidelity for measuring change. The authors go on to discuss two innovations in measurement that provide researchers with greater assessment fidelity: Visual analog scales and the retrospective pretest design. Moreover, when used in combination, these innovations measurement techniques provide dramatic increases in the power to detect and quantify change.

Se discuten las limitaciones de dos procedimientos de medición extremadamente populares; la escala Likert y los diseños pre-post tradicionales. Ambos métodos tienen limitaciones; estos métodos son comúnmente combinados obteniendo como resultado una fidelidad limitada para la medición del cambio. Se discute sobre dos innovaciones en medición que proveen al investigador una mayor fidelidad: escalas visuales análogas y el diseño pre-test retrospectivo. Además, cuando se usan de manera combinada, estas innovaciones en medición proveen notables incrementos en el poder de detección y la cuantificación de cambios.