Is teacher violence a form of betrayal trauma? Relationship with mental health problems among young adults.

BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma is one of the most preventable risk factors for mental health problems. Considering the substantial amount of time that young people spend in school during their early years, it is important to understand the potential impacts of teachers' behaviors on students' mental health. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between exposure to teacher violence and mental health problems. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: An international sample of young adults aged 18 to 24 (N = 283). METHODS: Participants completed self-report measures of childhood trauma, exposure to teacher violence, depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol misuse. RESULTS: Exposure to teacher violence could be reliably and validly measured using the Teacher Violence Scale (TVS). Current mental health problems - including depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol misuse - were associated with exposure to teacher violence during high school years, but not with childhood non-betrayal trauma. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings expand the application of the betrayal trauma theory to school settings and point to the importance of preventing and managing teacher violence. It is important to provide more support and training to teachers and enhance monitoring measures in schools. More research on the prevalence and correlates of exposure to teacher violence is needed. We also provided first evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the English version of the TVS to facilitate future research.

The Mediating Role of Work Engagement in the Relationship between Executive Functioning Deficits and Employee Well-Being.

Executive functioning and its related components have been found to promote well-being. However, there is a limited understanding of the underlying mechanism. Drawing from the job demands-resources and PERMA models, the present study examined the hypothetical mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between executive functioning deficit and well-being among 314 working adults in Malaysia. Participants answered a survey consisting of the Executive Skills Questionnaire-Revised (ESQ-R; a new measure of executive functioning deficits for working adults), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Employee Well-Being Scale, and Self-Rated Creativity Scale. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the ESQ-R score was negatively associated with all other target variables, while the latter was positively related to each other. Moreover, supporting the hypotheses, the results of mediation analysis using PROCESS macro found that work engagement mediated the negative relationship between executive functioning deficits and well-being after statistically controlling for the creativity score. The findings not only replicate the beneficial role of executive functioning in employees' well-being but also shed light on the underlying process of the relationship. Implications and directions for future studies are discussed.

Psychometric Qualities of the McMaster Family Assessment Device-General Functioning Subscale for Malaysian Samples.

Family functioning has been associated with psychological well-being and physical health. The 12-item McMaster Family Assessment Device-General Functioning Subscale (FAD-GF) has been widely used to assess individuals' overall level of family functioning. However, it has shown an inconsistent factor structure across various studies. The present study investigated its psychometric qualities in two studies with two different adult samples in Malaysia. In Study 1 (N = 417, 55.3% females, 19 to 26 years old), exploratory factor analyses were conducted, and four models were found: a three-factor model with 11 items, a two-factor model with 12 items, and one-factor models with six negatively worded items and six positively worded items, respectively. Study 2 (N = 358, 65.1% females, 18 to 60 years old) compared models found in past studies and those found in Study 1 through confirmatory factor analyses on another sample of adults. Among the six competing models, the two-factor model with three positively worded and three negatively worded items (i.e., FAD-GF-SF) is preferable because it did not require modification and showed a clear-cut result of goodness of fit. The subscales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency. In conclusion, the FAD-GF-SF is a useful instrument for measuring family functioning in the Malaysian context.

Validation and Measurement Invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 between Genders in a Malaysian Sample.

The 10-item Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a measurement for individuals to self-report the extent to which they accept and respect their bodies. Although the BAS-2 has been translated into the Malay language and found to have promising qualities, the psychometric characteristics of the English version of BAS-2 remain unknown in the Malaysian context. The present study thus administered the English version BAS-2 and selfie-editing frequency scale to 797 individuals aged 18 to 56 years old in Malaysia. The dataset that was randomly divided into two halves were submitted to exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis respectively. Both of the factor analyses consistently support a one-factor model. The Cronbach's alpha and McDonald omega coefficients were greater than 0.90, indicating that the BAS-2 has good internal consistency. The incremental validity is also evident. A hierarchical multiple regression showed that the BAS-2 score had a positive relationship with selfie-editing frequency after controlling for age and gender. Moreover, the measurement invariance test supported scalar invariance between genders, and an analysis of covariance did not find significant gender differences. Overall, the findings replicate past findings and regularly support the usability of the BAS-2 in the Malaysian context. The implications of the BAS-2 and future directions are also discussed.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Malay Version of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III for Malaysian Adolescents.

The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale III (FACES-III) has been widely used to measure an individual's family functioning in terms of cohesion and adaptability. In Malaysia, the FACES-III has been translated into the Malay language for the community, but its psychometric properties in this context remain unknown. Thus, the purpose of this research is to examine the psychometric properties of the Malay version of the FACES-III in 852 adolescents attending secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Data were randomly split into two halves: the exploration sample and the validation sample. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the exploration sample and a two-factor model was discovered after removing nine items that showed low factor loading. Then, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the validation sample to compare the one-factor models, two-factor models, and three-factor models. Results showed that the 11-item two-factor model (FACES-III-M-SF) was superior to the other competing models. Both the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses replicated the two-factor structure of the original version of FACES-III. The reliability of the overall scale was consistently good, but the subscale results were mixed. This suggests that researchers should use the overall score, but not the subscale scores, in analyses.

Family functioning, coping strategy, and suicidal ideation among adolescents.

Background and aim: Adolescent suicide has become a central issue around the world, including in Malaysia, which needs attention. The current study investigated the mediating effect of coping strategy in the association between family functioning and suicidal ideation among adolescents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Method: A total of 852 school-attending adolescents aged 13-17 years were recruited by multistage cluster sampling. The relationships between all the study variables were analysed using Pearson's correlation. Moreover, the mediation model was tested using SPSS PROCESS macro, while sex differences in suicidal ideation were examined using independent samples t-test. Results: Results showed that family cohesion, family flexibility, and problem-focused coping negatively correlated with adolescents' suicidal ideation. Problem-focused coping also mediated the association between family flexibility and suicidal ideation. There was a significant difference in suicidal ideation for males and females. Conclusion: Family functioning and coping strategy are related to adolescents' suicidal ideation, while problem-focused coping plays a crucial role in the relationship between family flexibility and suicidal ideation.