Aspects of Identity Questionnaire-IV: An Examination of Structural Validity, Gender Invariance, and Relationships with Mental Health and Basic Psychological Needs Among Adolescents.

The present research evaluated evidence for structural and convergent validity and measurement invariance across gender of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire-IV (AIQ-IV), which is designed to measure four identity orientations: Personal, Relational, Public, and Collective. We recruited two independent samples of Serbian adolescents aged 15-19 years (n1 = 436, n2 = 452). Both exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were applied to examine the factor structure of the AIQ-IV. The ESEM model with four factors demonstrated a superior fit to the data in both samples and resulted in well-defined factors and deflated latent factor correlations compared to the CFA model. Multiple-group analysis supported the scalar invariance of the four-factor ESEM model across gender. The evidence for the convergent validity of the ESEM AIQ-IV factors was supported by meaningful correlations with various mental health indicators (life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, internalizing behaviors, and externalizing behaviors) and basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, and competence) satisfaction and frustration. Our findings support the use of AIQ-IV as a multidimensional measure of identity orientations among adolescents and confirm the usefulness of applying the ESEM framework to evaluate the validity aspects of this scale.

The role of basic psychological needs in the relationships between identity orientations and adolescent mental health: A protocol for a longitudinal study.

Research into the role of identity orientations (the relative importance an individual places on different personal and social attributes and characteristics when defining her or his identity) in adolescent mental health is extremely limited. Furthermore, the potential mechanisms that might explain the associations between identity orientations and adolescent mental health are poorly understood. This study protocol describes a one-year longitudinal study across three time points to be initiated with the purpose of investigating the mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction and frustration in the relationship between identity orientations and various mental health indicators in adolescence. We aim to recruit a large sample of Serbian adolescents (N = 2,000 at Time 1), using a two-stage stratified random sampling. The data will be analyzed using the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM), and the results will be contrasted with the traditional CLPM. The goal of this study is to make a theoretical contribution to research in the fields of identity, self-determination theory, and adolescent mental health, as well as to provide insights towards the development of evidence-based recommendations for creating prevention and promotion programs aimed at improving the well-being of adolescents.

Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale: Validation and Measurement Invariance in a Youth Sample.

The Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale (VCBS) is a widely used measure of conspiracy beliefs about vaccines, but evidence of its validity and measurement invariance, especially in youth samples, is still largely missing. The present study examined VCBS scores' factor structure, measurement invariance, convergent and discriminant validity, and incremental predictive validity. A sample of 803 Serbian youths (age range 15-24; 59.2% females) was recruited for the study. A modified single-factor model of the VCBS was supported, and showed evidence of full scalar invariance across gender, age, vaccination status, and personal history of COVID-19. Evidence of the VCBS scores' convergent and discriminant validity was obtained by examining associations with general conspiracy beliefs, vaccination attitudes, vaccination knowledge, intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19, paranoia worries, fear of injections and blood draws, importance of God, self-rated health, and self-rated family's financial situation. The VCBS scores predicted a unique variance in the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19, over and above vaccination attitudes and vaccination knowledge. The results suggest that the VCBS is a valid measure of vaccine conspiracy beliefs in youth.

Well-Being and the Pandemic: Trust in People Matters More Than Trust in Institutions.

Trust is an important correlate of well-being, and it plays an important moderating role against adversity. But does this conclusion also hold during pandemics? We address this question by investigating the role of interpersonal and institutional trust for well-being, as measured by five proxies, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia. We also examined age and gender differences in the relationship between trust and well-being, and tested the protective role of trust among individuals whose well-being might be at risk during the pandemic. The sample included a total of 5776 Serbian adults (Mage = 37.00 years, 75% female). The results showed that interpersonal trust has a small but significant relationship with well-being, whereas institutional trust has negligible effects. We also found some evidence for the protective role of general interpersonal trust on well-being among individuals with poorer self-rated health and in a poorer financial situation. Our findings confirm the role of interpersonal trust for well-being in times of crisis, and support previous evidence indicating that promoting interpersonal trust should be a core goal of public policy.

A person-centered evaluation of subjective well-being using a latent profile analysis: Associations with negative life events, distress, and emotion regulation strategies.

The present study examined the structure of subjective well-being (SWB) using a person-centered approach, and tested whether SWB profiles differed in a number of self-reported negative life events, emotional distress, and cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The sample included a total of 945 undergraduate students from Serbia (78% female, Mage  = 20.14 years). A 3-step latent profile analysis with partial conditional independence revealed four profiles, which have been tentatively labeled: low SWB (a combination of low life satisfaction, low positive affect, and high negative affect), mixed SWB (moderate to high life satisfaction, moderate to low positive affect, high negative affect), moderately low SWB (low life satisfaction, moderate to low positive affect, moderate negative affect), high SWB (high life satisfaction, high positive affect, low negative affect). A comparison of SWB profiles applied to symptoms of emotional distress, along with the number of self-reported negative life events and emotion regulation strategies, offered support to the validity of four SWB profiles. Our findings suggest that a person-centered perspective might be a valuable tool for understanding the structure of SWB.

Measuring life satisfaction among psychiatric patients: Measurement invariance and validity of the Satisfaction with Life Scale.

The main aim of the present study was to evaluate the measurement invariance and the convergent validity of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) across clinical and nonclinical samples. A total of 216 psychiatric patients (47.7% females; Mage = 44.56) and 235 participants from the general population (54.5% females; Mage = 43.11 years) were recruited. The measurement invariance was tested by a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Full scalar invariance of the SWLS was supported. Psychiatric patients reported substantially lower life satisfaction than participants from the general population. The SWLS demonstrated good convergent validity in both samples. The present study supported the use of the SWLS as a measure of life satisfaction among psychiatric patients.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY MASS INDEX AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING - THE MODERATING ROLE OF BODY DISSATISFACTION.

INTRODUCTION: Excess bodyweight and obesity are widespread health problems throughout the world. In Serbia, over 50% of the adult population is overweight and the Province of Vojvodina is one of the regions with the highest percentage of obesity. The relationship between obesity and health complications has been consistently demonstrated. However, research on the relationship between obesity and subjective well-being has not provided clear results. Body dissatisfaction is considered to be an important factor for understanding this relationship. The main objective of this study was to investigate the moderating effect of body dissatisfaction in the relationship between body mass index and subjective well-being. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study sample included 731 respondents (72.6% women), with the mean age 28.93 years (SD = 8.47) from the Province of Vojvodina who had completed an online set of tests consisting of Body Shape Questionnaire, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Scale of Positive and Negative Experience and a self-assessment of bodyweight and body height. RESULTS: The results indicate that the moderating effect of body dissatisfaction in the relationship between body mass index and indicators of subjective well-being is statistically significant in both sexes. Specifically, the women with higher body mass index values who expressed lower body dissatisfaction reported lower levels of emotional distress and higher levels of pleasant emotions than those with lower body mass index. On the other hand, the men with higher bodyweight preoccupation and low body mass index reported significantly higher levels of pleasant emotions than those with higher body mass index values. CONCLUSION: These results suggest the necessity of a more detailed study of this relationship on both clinical and general population samples from Serbia.

The good, the bad (and the ugly): The role of curiosity in subjective well-being and risky behaviors among adolescents.

Previous studies have shown that enhanced trait curiosity has positive influence on well-being. It remains an open question, however, whether curiosity has any detrimental effects on behavioral outcomes in adolescence. The main aim of this research was to investigate the role of trait curiosity in the prediction of risky behavior engagement and subjective well-being (SWB) among adolescents. A total of 371 Serbian adolescents (mean age 15.5, SD = 0.57) participated in the 5-month follow up study. The results showed that the embracing component of curiosity (but not stretching) predicted risky behavior engagement, while the stretching component of curiosity (but not embracing) predicted positive affect. In addition, neither embracing nor stretching was a significant predictor of negative affect and life satisfaction. The results of this study call into question the conceptualization of curiosity as a completely positive emotional-motivational system, and suggest that curiosity can contribute to negative outcomes in adolescence.

Attitude towards oneself and others in non-clinical population, depressed and paranoid examinees.

BACKGROUND: The theoretical concept of existential/life positions describes person's basic beliefs about oneself and others. Most of authors on TA postulated that every person has one of four possible basic life positions: I'm OK, you're OK; I'm not OK, you're OK; I'm OK, you're not OK and I'm not OK, you're not OK. The aim of this study was the authentication of Existential positions as theoretical concepts in Transaction Analysis, and it's potential to discriminate clinical from non-clinical examinees, and paranoid from depressive examinees within the clinical population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The research conducted was co-relational. The sample belongs to the convenience sample type, and comprised 200 examinees, 100 from the non-clinical and 100 from the clinical population of adults. RESULTS: The results of the research confirm a statistically significant difference between the non-clinical and clinical part of the sample in the examined theoretical concept. The "I am not OK" existential position is more expressed in the clinical part of the sample. The differences between the examinees with depressive and paranoid disorders indicate that the examinees with the depressive disorder are more likely to express the "I am not OK, you are OK" and "I am not OK, you are not OK" Existential position. CONCLUSION: In general, we can infer that the assumptions which the research was aimed at testing received partial validation. Examinees from the clinical part of the sample have a statistically significantly higher score at the position "I am not OK". Examinees with depressive characteristics have a more pronounced "I am not OK, you are not OK" position.

Trauma exposure in childhood impairs the ability to recall specific autobiographical memories in late adolescence.

J. M. G. Williams (1996) predicted that exposure to potentially traumatizing events at an early age would give rise to overgeneral recall from autobiographical memory, i.e., recall of general rather than specific events, and that in adolescence this tendency would be uncorrelated with psychopathological symptoms, e.g., depression. This was supported by two studies where war-exposed Bosnian adolescents produced significantly fewer specific autobiographical memories than a Norwegian control group, as did bombing-exposed Serbian adolescents compared to nontrauma-exposed Serbians. No significant correlations were found between autobiographical memory specificity and measures of depression, anxiety, dissociation or impact of trauma, which is consistent with Williams' idea that an overgeneral memory retrieval strategy is at first protective, and a risk factor for depression only upon reaching adulthood.