Measurement invariance of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms measure (PCL-5) in college student and Amazon's mechanical TURK samples.

OBJECTIVE: College student and Amazon's Mechanical TURK (MTURK) samples are regularly utilized in trauma research. Recent literature, however, has criticized these samples for not being generalizable to the general U.S. POPULATION: The purpose of this study was to determine whether college student (n = 255) and MTURK (n = 316) samples are invariant on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5. METHOD: Measurement invariance using confirmatory factor analyses was used to determine whether groups are invariant across factor structure, factor loadings, item intercepts, and residual error variances on a given measure of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. RESULTS: Model fit indices indicated the seven-factor Hybrid model was the best-fitting model, but the six-factor Anhedonia model was the most parsimonious model. Both models demonstrated equivalence in factor at the strictest level, indicating MTURK and college student samples are similar in regard to PTSD symptom severity. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that these groups can be combined in future studies to increase sample size for trauma research. Only the Anhedonia factor exhibited mean differences between groups, which may be related to true differences between college students and MTURK survey-takers. This study provides further evidence that the findings from trauma studies using these populations are generalizable to each other. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessment of cross-cultural measurement invariance of the NIH toolbox fluid cognition measures between Jamaicans and African-Americans.

The NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery (NIHTB-CB) was developed as a common-metric, computerized cognitive screener for research. Although extensively normed and validated in Americans of different ethnicities, there is little data on how generalizable such results would be when used outside of the United States. The objective of this study was to assess measurement invariance (MI) of the NIHTB-CB across Jamaican and African-American samples and determine appropriateness of comparisons across groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analyses using a single-factor model were conducted using five tests of fluid cognitive abilities from the NIHTB-CB, which assess working memory, episodic memory, processing speed, and executive function. MI was tested sequentially for configural, metric and scalar invariance. 125 Jamaican and 154 American adults of African descent were included. The Jamaican mean age was 31.6 ± 8.6 years (57% males) compared to 43.5 ± 15.5 years (25% males) for the African-American group. The Jamaicans had on average 11.3 ± 2.7 years of education compared to 13.9 ± 2.6 years for the African-Americans. We found metric and configural invariance across both samples but not scalar invariance. These findings suggest that the single factor emerging from the NIHTB-CB measures the same construct, i.e. fluid cognitive ability, in both groups and hence the battery is appropriate for assessments within cultures. However, lack of scalar invariance indicates that direct cross-cultural comparisons of performance levels should be interpreted with caution, also suggesting that U.S. normative standards are not generalizable to the Jamaican population.

Social Emotional Learning Competencies in Belize Children: Psychometric Validation Through Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling.

In the nation of Belize, and in particular the south side of Belize City, the main metropolitan area of the nation, significant economic disparities have led to child and adolescent exposure to high rates of violent crime, gang activity, unsafe neighborhoods, sexual, and physical violence. Problems associated with poor Social-Emotional Character Development are especially prevalent among boys. Consequently, valid culture-relevant measures are required that identify problematic behavior for policy-based intervention and evaluation of educational programs designed to ameliorate this problem. The present study demonstrates the application of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling to existing measures through the investigation of structural validity and generalizability of the Social-Emotional and Character Development Scale with a large sample of children from schools in Belize (N = 1,877, Ages 10-13). Exploratory structural equation modeling results demonstrate the original factor correlations were reduced, providing less biased estimates than confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Moreover, a multi-group Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling analysis illuminates significant differences between latent factor scores of males and females for most factors. Using this newer factor analytic procedure, original factors are reconceptualized to better situate the Social Emotional Character Development Scales into the larger body of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies literature.

Positive youth development: An experimental trial with unattached adolescents.

Adolescents who are unemployed and do not attend school or other education face a variety of short- and long-term challenges ranging from economic instability to increased drug and alcohol abuse to loss of quality adjusted life years. Intervention programs that reinforce positive youth behaviors may provide more effective solutions to adolescent challenges than programs that attempt to curb maladaptive behaviors. We conducted a longitudinal randomized trial of a residential positive youth development program including a six-month job internship with youth in Jamaica (N = 785, 59.3% Female, Mean Age = 18.3, SD = 1.7), which revealed significant main effects on the acquisition of workplace skills and career self-efficacy. Smaller effects were noted for youth assets in unattached Jamaican adolescents based on follow-up six months post treatment.