Cross-Cultural Measurement Invariance in the Personality Inventory for DSM-5✰.

The validity of cross-cultural comparisons of test scores requires that scores have the same meaning across cultures, which is usually tested by checking the invariance of the measurement model across groups. In the last decade, a large number of studies were conducted to verify the equivalence across cultures of the dimensional Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (DSM-5 Section III). These studies have provided information on configural invariance (i.e., the facets that compose the domains are the same) and metric invariance (i.e., facet-domain relationships are equal across groups), but not on the stricter scalar invariance (i.e., the baseline levels of the facets are the same), which is a prerequisite for meaningfully comparing group means. The present study aims to address this gap. The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) was administered to five samples differing on country and language (Belgium, Catalonia, France, Spain, and Switzerland), with a total of 4,380 participants. Configural and metric invariance were supported, denoting that the model structure was stable across samples. Partial scalar invariance was supported, being minimal the influence of non-invariant facets. This allowed cross-cultural mean comparisons. Results are discussed in light of the sample composition and a possible impact of culture on development of psychopathology.

Another way of thinking about ADHD: the predictive role of early attachment deprivation in adolescents' level of symptoms.

PURPOSE: Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent disorders in childhood and adolescence. Both neurocognitive and environmental factors have been related to ADHD. The current study contributes to the documentation of the predictive relation between early attachment deprivation and ADHD. METHOD: Data were collected from 641 adopted adolescents (53.2% girls) aged 11-16 years in five countries, using the DSM oriented scale for ADHD of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach and Rescorla, Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth and Families, Burlington, 2001). The influence of attachment deprivation on ADHD symptoms was initially tested taking into consideration several key variables that have been reported as influencing ADHD at the adoptee level (age, gender, length of time in the adoptive family, parents' educational level and marital status), and at the level of the country of origin and country of adoption (poverty, quality of health services and values). The analyses were computed using the multilevel modeling technique. RESULTS: The results showed that an increase in the level of ADHD symptoms was predicted by the duration of exposure to early attachment deprivation, estimated from the age of adoption, after controlling for the influence of adoptee and country variables. The effect of the age of adoption was also demonstrated to be specific to the level of ADHD symptoms in comparison to both the externalizing and internalizing behavior scales of the CBCL. CONCLUSION: Deprivation of stable and sensitive care in infancy may have long-lasting consequences for children's development.

When there seem to be no predetermining factors: early child and proximal family risk predicting externalizing behavior in young children incurring no distal family risk.

The main objective of the current study was to examine the impact of two child risk factors, i.e. personality and inhibition, and two proximal family risk factors, i.e. parenting and attachment, and the impact of their cumulative effect on later externalizing behavior among young children incurring no distal family risk. Data were collected in a longitudinal two-wave design from 161 non-referred and referred children aged three to five years at the onset of the study. All of the children were raised in families of middle to high socio-economic status, i.e. their parents were educated to a middle to high level, had access to the job market and lived together as couples. The four risk domains were assessed at the onset of the study, while EB was rated both at the onset of the study and in the 24-month follow-up. Results confirmed that the four risk domains were each both correlates of EB and efficient at discriminating non-referred from referred children; that their combination regardless of their content (cumulative risk) provided a strong prediction of both later EB and non-referred vs referred sample membership. The results are discussed both for research and clinical purposes.