The ephemeral nature of wording effects.

This article explores the analysis and interpretation of wording effects associated with using direct and reverse items in psychological assessment. Previous research using bifactor models has suggested a substantive nature of this effect. The present study uses mixture modeling to systematically examine an alternative hypothesis and surpass recognized limitations in the bifactor modeling approach. In preliminary supplemental Studies S1 and S2, we examined the presence of participants who exhibited wording effects and evaluated their impact on the dimensionality of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem and the Revised Life Orientation Test, confirming the ubiquity of wording effects in scales containing direct and reverse items. Then, after analyzing the data for both scales (n = 5,953), we found that, despite a significant association between wording factors (Study 1), a low proportion of participants simultaneously exhibited asymmetric responses in both scales (Study 2). Similarly, despite finding both longitudinal invariance and temporal stability of this effect in three waves (n = 3,712, Study 3), a small proportion of participants was identified with asymmetric responses over time (Study 4), reflected in lower transition parameters compared to the other patterns of profiles examined. In both cases, we illustrate how bifactor models capitalize on the responses of individuals who do not even exhibit wording effects, yielding spurious correlations suggesting a substantive nature of the wording effect. These findings support the notion of an ephemeral nature underlying wording effects. The discussion focuses on alternative hypotheses to understand these findings and emphasizes the utility of including reverse items in psychological assessment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Adaptation and psychometric characteristics of a scale to evaluate ageist stereotypes.

OBJECTIVES: Negative ageism impacts on the well-being of older persons; therefore, its identification is important to generate interventions that allow its decrease. CENVE is a widely used instrument to evaluate stereotypes towards old age in Spanish. However, its factor structure in older population and its invariance between those over and under 60 years old have not been confirmed. The objectives of the study are to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument and its invariance by age and gender. METHODS: The total sample was 439 people with 54 % of people over 60. This was divided into two random subsamples. With the first subsample, a confirmatory factor analysis of the different models proposed was carried out until an adequate fit was achieved, which was confirmed with the second subsample. Then, the invariance of the instrument was evaluated with the total sample by age and gender. RESULTS: The revised CENVE consists of 15 items with a unifactorial structure that showed good psychometric properties. It presented good reliability, including a .92 Omega. In addition, it proved to be an invariant instrument according to age and gender, which allows comparison between groups. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The use of CENVE will allow the identification of ageist stereotypes, with which interventions can be carried out to reduce them, both in groups older and younger than 60. In addition, it can be useful to generate a discussion about ageism in different fields, such as professional training.

Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Autonomy Support in the Chilean Mathematics Classroom: An Observational Study.

This paper presents the results of an observational study developed on lessons taught by 128 teachers for a national teaching assessment program in Chile and whose practice was identified as outstanding. Specifically, we studied which strategies teachers used to promote students' self-regulation and autonomy during segments involving teacher-led public talk, student-led public talk, shared engagement, and private work. Additionally, we examined whether the instructional practices targeting self-regulation that occur throughout these segments can be accounted for based on two overall dimensions of teacher practices, namely one of promotion of metacognition and one of promotion of motivation. During public segments, teachers encouraged student participation; during private work segments, teachers offered clues for problem solving. Thus, there was a stronger focus on motivational regulation instructional strategies during public segments and on metacognitive instructional strategies during private ones. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesis of two distinctive but related factors behind the observed self-regulation promotion strategies, one motivational, and one cognitive.