General versus domain-specific grit in the work context.

Researchers have questioned whether grit should be conceptualized and measured as a global (i.e., domain-general) or domain-specific construct. Although evidence is beginning to appear that grit in educational and sport contexts may be measured as domain-specific, it has not yet been explored in the organizational context. The objective of this research was to study the psychometric properties of grit as domain-specific for subsequently analyzing if such domain-specific grit (labor grit) improves the predictive validity of different organizational results. A sample of 326 active workers was used (Myears = 37.52; SD = 9.85). Their grit levels in the general domain and specific domain were evaluated, as well as their main personality traits and other organizational results such as work engagement and work performance. The grit instrument as domain-specific showed excellent reliability (ω = 0.92), and the unidimensionality of the instrument was confirmed. The results point to the fact that giving an organizational connotation to the grit items does not improve the predictability of the results. However, labor grit adds incremental validity over personality traits and work engagement to predict task and contextual performance (Δr2 = 0.13), but not to predict counterproductive behavior.

Contribution of students to nursing practice settings during clinical training: Design and validation of a questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: A validated questionnaire to measure the contributions of nursing students to clinical settings could potentially assist in the improved management of students in healthcare institutions. AIM: To develop and test the psychometric properties of the questionnaire 'Nursing Student Contributions to Clinical Settings' (CEEEC, Spanish acronym for 'Contribuciones de los Estudiantes de Enfermería a los Entornos Clínicos'). DESIGN: Instrument design and psychometric testing. PARTICIPANTS/SETTINGS: A multicentre study involving 1,098 nursing professionals from three universities and five hospitals of Spain, between January 2019 and March 2020. METHODS: The study was carried out in two phases. Phase 1 involved the questionnaire design by experts (n = 28), which required a review of the available literature, cognitive interviews and Delphi rounds, and a preliminary validity study, which included a pilot test with responses from a sample of nurses (n = 143). Phase 2 involved a formal validation with a wider sample of nurses (n = 927), including factor analysis and a study of convergent validity with the Practice Environment Scale-Nursing Work Index and Health Sciences-Evidence Based Practice. RESULTS: Experts selected 42 items on student contributions. After cognitive interviews, three items were eliminated and seven failed to reach the minimum content validity index (78%). Based on the remaining 32 items, the discrimination index of each item was calculated, and those with <0.3, eight items were sequentially eliminated. The resulting questionnaire contained 24 items grouped into a single factor, which explained 41% of the variance. The internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's alpha: 0.94), and the convergent validity was confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: A 24-item questionnaire was designed and validated to measure the contributions of nursing students to clinical practice settings. IMPACT: Most hospitals are also teaching centres where nursing students undergo clinical practice. The application of this test will provide insight into the nursing professionals' perception of the students' role.

Grit Assessment: Is One Dimension Enough?

Grit is one of the non-cognitive variables that has received the most attention in recent years given its relationship to and influence in various aspects of life. There are very few reliable, valid instruments to evaluate it in Spanish-speaking countries. Because of that, the aim of this study is the development and validation of a new scale to evaluate grit in Spanish-speaking contexts. We used a sample of 531 Spanish participants (60% women) from the general population (Myears = 38.60, SDyears = 14.90). We examined the structure and measurement invariance of the instrument. We calculated the instrument's reliability and obtained evidence of validity in relation to other variables. We examined the differences in grit as a function of gender and age. The factorial analyses confirmed the unidimensionality of the instrument, along with the measurement invariance of the scores with respect to sex and age. The new grit scale demonstrated excellent reliability (α = .94; ω = .94). We found clear evidence of validity in relation to other variables; the Grit short scale (r = .691), self-control (r = .595), self-efficacy (r = .703), and conscientiousness (r = .661). The new scale for evaluating grit (Oviedo Grit Scale) is essentially unidimensional, and scores produced by it exhibit excellent indicators of reliability and validity.

The Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory: A Spanish Adaptation and Further Validation in Adult Population.

Social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills encompass a broad range of interpersonal and intrapersonal abilities that are crucial for establishing and maintaining relationships, managing emotions, setting and pursuing goals, and exploring new learning opportunities. To address the lack of consensus regarding terminology, definition, and assessment of SEB skills, Soto et al. developed the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI), which consists of 192 items, 32 facets, and 5 domains. The objective of the current study was to adapt the BESSI to Spanish (referred to as BESSI-Sp) and enhance the overall understanding of the BESSI framework. A sample of 303 people was employed with a mean age of 30.35 years (SD = 14.73), ranging from 18 to 85 years. The results indicate that the BESSI-Sp demonstrates strong psychometric properties. Its facet- and domain-level structure aligns with the theoretical expectations and closely resembles the English-language source version. The facets exhibit high reliability (mean ω = .89), and the scores demonstrate adequate stability after 3 to 4 weeks (mean rICC = .77). The BESSI-Sp also displays evidence of convergent validity and integrates well with the Big Five framework, providing incremental validity for various outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for the assessment of SEB skills and future research in this field.

Co-Active Coping Inventory: Development and Validation for the Chilean Population.

Co-active coping is a fundamental construct in organizational and work environments as it allows for the exploration of individual and group behaviors within organizations. The aim of this study was to develop a new scale called the Co-Active Coping Inventory in the Chilean context. The sample was comprised of 1,442 workers with an average age of 30.48 years (SD = 11.13). 55% were public-sector workers, 34.5% were workers in private commercial organizations, and 10.5% belonged to non-profit private organizations. Different exploratory factor analyses were performed, and the best exploratory model was verified with a confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, multiple linear regressions were used to analyze which dimensions of co-active coping helped predict workers' burnout (emotional exhaustion, affective hardening, and personal fulfillment) and symptomatology (psychological and somatic). Based on the exploratory and confirmatory approach, the Co-Active Coping Inventory showed a good fit to a structure of five correlated factors (Reflective Action, Rash Action, Search for Spiritual Support, Search for Affective Support and Evasion), demonstrating measurement invariance in terms of sex and type of organization. The different domains of co-active coping explain between 20% (emotional exhaustion) and 41% (affective hardening) of occupational burnout and around 3-5% of workers' symptomatology, with reflective action being the most important variable. These results indicate that the new scale has suitable psychometric properties; it can assess coping strategies in the Chilean organizational context in a reliable and valid way. These coping strategies have demonstrated certain importance in relation to organizational and clinical variables.

[Spanish adaptation and validation of The Adolescent-Cannabis Problems Questionnaire (CPQ-A)]. / Adaptación y validación española del Adolescent-Cannabis Problems Questionnaire (CPQ-A).

Cannabis is a widely used substance among adolescents and young adults, but demand for help and treatment from this age group continues to be low. It is therefore essential to develop instruments especially designed for the early detection of problems associated with cannabis use in this population. The purpose of this work is to adapt and validate the CPQ-A (Adolescent Cannabis Problems Questionnaire) for its use as a screening instrument in Spanish population. The sample was made up of 144 young people (71.5% male) aged 16 to 20 (M = 17.12; SD = 1.17) who had used cannabis in the last month and were on some kind of study or training course at various educational institutions in Asturias (a region in northern Spain). Factor analysis of the CPQ-A in this sample provides evidence of a unidimensional structure, with a Cronbach's Alpha of 0.86 for the questionnaire. The evidence also shows that the instrument's convergent validity is good. The CPQ-A score permits discrimination between moderate and excessive cannabis users over the last month, is positively related to score on the CAST (Cannabis Abuse Screening Test), and presents adequate sensitivity and specificity for identifying cases of cannabis abuse and dependence according to the DSM IV-TR criteria. It is also sensitive to young people's degree of concern about cannabis use and the psychopathological effects associated with it. In accordance with the results obtained, the CPQ-A can be considered a useful screening tool for young cannabis users with problems.

To be Direct or not: Reversing Likert Response Format Items.

Likert items are often used in social and health sciences. However, the format is strongly affected by acquiescence and reversed items have traditionally been used to control this response bias, a controversial practice. This paper aims to examine how reversed items affect the psychometric properties of a scale. Different versions of the Grit-s scale were applied to an adult sample (N = 1,419). The versions of the scale had either all items in positive or negative forms, or a mix of positive and negative items. The psychometric properties of the different versions (item analysis, dimensionality and reliability) were analyzed. Both negative and positive versions demonstrated better functioning than mixed versions. However, the mean total scores did not vary, which is an example of how similar means could mask other significant differences. Therefore, we advise against using mixed scales, and consider the use of positive or negative versions preferable.

Moral Disengagement as a Self-Regulatory Cognitive Process of Transgressions: Psychometric Evidence of the Bandura Scale in Chilean Adolescents.

Moral disengagement is a process of cognitive restructuring that allows individuals to disassociate from their internal moral standards and behave unethically without feeling distressed. It has been described as a key predictor of maladaptive behaviors (e.g., delinquency, aggression, and cyberbullying) and as a mediator between individual variables and unethical outcomes (e.g., empathy and aggression). We aimed to provide evidence of validity based on the internal structure, reliability, and correlations with other constructs of the most used instrument to measure disengagement from moral self-sanctions: Bandura's Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale (MMDS). A non-probabilistic national sample of 528 Chilean adolescents from 14 to 18 years participated in the study. The results showed that the 10-item version of the MMDS had a unidimensional structure and good internal consistency. As expected, the MMDS-10 showed positive and medium correlations with abusive, violent antisocial, and delinquent behaviors and negative and medium associations with prosocial behavior and empathy. Additionally, moral disengagement fully mediated the relationship between empathy and violent antisocial behavior, supporting the hypothesis on moral disengagement as a self-regulatory cognitive process. The results confirm previous research, and the findings are discussed in terms of their implications for reducing the use of moral disengagement strategies in adolescence.

Empirical Determination of Transitory and Persistent Delinquency in Chilean Youth: Validation of the Criminal Engagement Severity Scale "EGED".

Evidence from several longitudinal studies has established the relevance of the approach of evolutionary criminology to understanding and intervening with adolescent criminal offenders, seeking to halt the criminal behavior before its potential consolidation in adulthood. The aim of this study is to present the psychometric properties of the Criminal Engagement Severity Scale (EGED) to discriminate between transitory and persistent delinquency in Chilean adolescents of both sexes. The characteristics of the sample are revealed through descriptive analyses, and evidence of validity and reliability is provided that show its discriminant capacity using ROC curves and odds ratios, measures of internal consistency (Cronbach's α and McDonald's Ω), intraclass correlation, and unidimensional statistics. The results indicate that the EGED adequately discriminates between transitory and persistent delinquency, so that its use in contexts of assessment and intervention with adolescent criminal offenders can be recommended, because it helps to determine the intensity of the intervention required.

Examining the Factor Structure of a Risk Assessment Inventory in Young Offenders: FER-R, Risk and Resource Assessment Form.

The FER-R, Risk and Resource Assessment Form, is a multidimensional inventory of structured professional judgment that assesses criminogenic risks and resources for the design and management of individualized intervention plans with criminally sanctioned adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the FER-R, reviewing its factorial structure to contribute evidence of convergent and discriminant construct validity in a sample of adolescents sentenced for crimes in Chile. For each domain (risks and resources) with its respective facets, a unidimensional bifactor structure (CFA-BF) was obtained, with adequate indices of fit that confirmed its construct validity, while the convergent validity was demonstrated with the YLS/CMI and the divergent validity with two MACI scales. The FER-R adds factorial validity to the evidence of the previously reported predictive validity, making it a robust inventory for the evaluation of young offenders, and a relevant tool to manage differentiated interventions in Chile, with a high potential for use in Latin America. The importance of finding a suitable balance in assessing risks and protective factors is discussed, in order to manage interventions adjusted to the needs of the adolescents to promote their criminal desistance.

Validation of a computer-adaptive test to evaluate generic health-related quality of life.

BACKGROUND: Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is a relevant variable in the evaluation of health outcomes. Questionnaires based on Classical Test Theory typically require a large number of items to evaluate HRQoL. Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) can be used to reduce tests length while maintaining and, in some cases, improving accuracy. This study aimed at validating a CAT based on Item Response Theory (IRT) for evaluation of generic HRQoL: the CAT-Health instrument. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of subjects aged over 18 attending Primary Care Centres for any reason. CAT-Health was administered along with the SF-12 Health Survey. Age, gender and a checklist of chronic conditions were also collected. CAT-Health was evaluated considering: 1) feasibility: completion time and test length; 2) content range coverage, Item Exposure Rate (IER) and test precision; and 3) construct validity: differences in the CAT-Health scores according to clinical variables and correlations between both questionnaires. RESULTS: 396 subjects answered CAT-Health and SF-12, 67.2% females, mean age (SD) 48.6 (17.7) years. 36.9% did not report any chronic condition. Median completion time for CAT-Health was 81 seconds (IQ range = 59-118) and it increased with age (p < 0.001). The median number of items administered was 8 (IQ range = 6-10). Neither ceiling nor floor effects were found for the score. None of the items in the pool had an IER of 100% and it was over 5% for 27.1% of the items. Test Information Function (TIF) peaked between levels -1 and 0 of HRQoL. Statistically significant differences were observed in the CAT-Health scores according to the number and type of conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Although domain-specific CATs exist for various areas of HRQoL, CAT-Health is one of the first IRT-based CATs designed to evaluate generic HRQoL and it has proven feasible, valid and efficient, when administered to a broad sample of individuals attending primary care settings.

Development of a computerized adaptive test to assess entrepreneurial personality.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Entrepreneurial behavior is of great importance nowadays owing to its significance in the generation of economic, social, personal, and cultural wellbeing. This behavior is influenced by cognitive and personality characteristics, as well as by socioeconomic and contextual factors. Entrepreneurial personality is made up of a set of psychological traits including self-efficacy, autonomy, innovation, internal locus of control, achievement motivation, optimism, stress tolerance, and risk-taking. The aim of this research is the development of a computerized adaptive test (CAT) to evaluate entrepreneurial personality. METHOD: A bank of 120 items was created evaluating various aspects of the entrepreneurial personality. The items were calibrated with the Samejima Graded Response Model using a sample of 1170 participants (Mage = 42.34; SDage = 12.96). RESULTS: The bank of items had an essentially unidimensional fit to the model. The CAT exhibited high accuracy for evaluating a wide range of θ scores, using a mean of 16 items with a very low standard error (M = 0.157). Relative validity evidence for the CAT was obtained with two additional tests of entrepreneurial personality (the Battery for the Assessment of the Enterprising Personality and the Measure of Enterpreneurial Tendencies and Abilities), with correlations of .908 and .657, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The CAT developed has appropriate psychometric properties for the evaluation of entrepreneurial people.

Humor as a protective factor against anxiety and depression.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Even though humor its part of everyday life, only in the last 40 years has Psychology begun to discern its impact on mental health. The aim of this paper is to explore the role that humor styles may have as protectors against anxiety and depression and their relationship with optimism. METHOD: A sample of 804 participants (M = 39.28; SD = 14.71) was used to analyze the uses of humor, optimism and clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition, the influence of sociodemographic variables such as sex, geographic location, age and educational level on different uses of humor was studied. Through an analysis of structural equations, the variables that had a protective or facilitating role in depression and anxiety were analyzed. RESULTS: Men and women differ in the use of a more aggressive humor style, and the use of affiliative humor styles decreases with age. The structural equation model indicated a good fit to the proposed theoretical model. CONCLUSIONS: Humor is a tool of everyday life and it can act for or against an individual's mental health.

ANTECEDENTES/OBJETIVOS: Si bien el humor es algo que forma parte de la vida cotidiana, en los últimos 40 años la Psicología ha empezado a discernir su impacto en la salud mental. El objetivo de este estudio explora el papel que los tipos de humor pueden tener como protectores de la ansiedad y la depresión y su relación con el optimismo. MÉTODO: Se empleó una muestra de 804 participantes (M = 39.28; DT = 14.71) para analizar los usos del humor, el optimismo y los síntomas clínicos de ansiedad y depresión. Además, se estudió la influencia de variables sociodemográficas como el sexo, la ubicación geográfica, la edad y el nivel de estudios en los diferentes usos del humor. A través de un análisis de ecuaciones estructurales, se analizó qué variables poseían un papel protector o facilitador en la depresión y en la ansiedad. RESULTADOS: Los hombres y las mujeres difieren en el uso de un humor más agresivo y el uso del humor afiliativo disminuye con la edad. El modelo de ecuaciones estructurales mostró un buen ajuste al modelo teórico propuesto. CONCLUSIONES: El humor es una herramienta de la vida cotidiana y puede actuar a favor o en contra de la salud mental del individuo.

Assessment of the Enterprising Personality: A Short Form of The BEPE Battery.

BACKGROUND: Enterprising personality is related to business creation and success. The objective of this study was the development and psychometric analysis of a reduced version of the BEPE Battery for the Evaluation of Enterprising Personality. METHOD: We used a sample of 1,170 people, 60% women, with a mean age of 42.34 years (SD = 12.96). We carried out psychometric analyses within the frameworks of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory models. RESULTS: The short version (BEPE-16) consists of 16 items, demonstrating an essentially unidimensional structure. The reliability was excellent (α= .94; Ω= .94) and evidence of validity was found in relation to various variables: Measure Of Entrepreneurial Talents And Abilities (META test) (r=.71), extraversion (r=.57), conscientiousness (r=.50), neuroticism (r=-.54). The correlation between scores from the BEPE-16 and the original version was very high (r=.95). CONCLUSIONS: The BEPE-16 reduced version for the evaluation of enterprising personality demonstrated good psychometric properties, both in terms of reliability and validity. As such, it can be used in place of the original when the professional or research circumstances require it.

[Development of the CAT-Health, the first adaptive computerized test (CAT) for the evaluation health-related quality of life in Spain]. / Desarrollo del CAT-Health, primer test adaptativo informatizado para la evaluación de la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en España.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a Computerized Adaptive Test to obtain a generic measure of the patients' perceived health state. METHODS: An experts' panel created a pool of five-alternative Likert format items, chosen among Health Related Quality of Life questionnaires validated in our country. That pool was applied to a pilot sample and later to another general sample of patients belonging to 7 Primary Health Centers in Asturias. Two response options were offered to the general sample: 1) on paper 2) on a touch panel. The Item Response Theory psychometric properties (discrimination, reliability and validity) were evaluated by means of the factorial analysis and other methods. The information function was analyzed and a study of simulation was developed. RESULTS: A pool of 140 items was created. The requirements for the application of the IRT were verified by means of the factorial analysis. A selection of items was realized following the statistical criterion and the application of the IRT. The elimination of 35 articles resulted in a test composed by 105 items. Once the questionnaire was applied to the general sample, the parameters of the items were estimated again. The parameters invariance was verified once more and other 9 items were eliminated. The result was a definitive version of 96 items. CONCLUSIONS: The Computerized Adaptive Test developed proves to be a fast and reliable tool to evaluate the Health Related Quality of Life generically. This test may imply a very important advance for the measurement of the results reported by the patients in the clinical practice.

[A reduced version of Thinking and Perceptual Style Questionnaire (TPSQ)]. / Versión reducida del Cuestionario TPSQ de Estilos Perceptuales y de Pensamiento.

The purpose of this paper was to create a short version of the Thinking and Perceptual Style Questionnaire (TPSQ), to be used for the detection of vulnerable individuals to psychosis. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the dimensional structure of schizotypy. The sample consisted of 1785 participants, 719 males, with a mean age of 16.9 years (SD=3.05). The results indicate that either the original or the short version (TPSQ-R) show adequate psychometric properties. Internal consistency for the subscales of the original version ranged from 0.77 to 0.88, and from 0.73 to 0.83 of the short version. The confirmatory factor analyses conducted indicated that schizotypy is organized in four factors: Anhedonia, Aberrant Beliefs, Distorted Information Processing, and Social Paranoia. Correlations between the subscales of the original and short versions were high and statistically significant. Accordingly, the TPSQ-R seems to be an instrument with psychometric guarantee for the assessment of psychosis risk in nonclinical adolescents and young adults. The TPSQ-R could be used as a screening instrument in future research, combined with laboratory tasks and new computerized adapted versions.

Psychometric properties of the Revised Physical and Social Anhedonia Scales in non-clinical young adults.

Anhedonia, a central dimension within the schizotypy construct, has been considered to be a promising vulnerability marker for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The Revised Physical Anhedonia Scale (RPhA) and Revised Social Anhedonia Scale (RSAS) are two self-reports widely used in the assessment of anhedonia; however, they psychometric characteristics have been scarcely investigated in Spanish population. The objective of the current work was to study the psychometric properties of the Revised Physical and Social Anhedonia Scales in non-clinical young adults. The sample was composed of 728 college students with a mean age of 20.1 years (SD = 2.5). The data indicated that the scales showed adequate psychometric characteristics. The Cronbach alpha was 0.95 (RSAS) and 0.92 (RPhA) respectively. The confirmatory factor analysis carried out on the matrix of tetrachoric correlations showed that both scales presented an essentially unidimensional solution. The Revised Physical and Social Anhedonia Scales seem to be adequate for psychosis-risk assessment in non-clinical populations. Future research should further investigate the construct validity in other populations and cultures as well as study its relation to emotional aspects and cognitive endophenotypes.

Corrigendum: Assessment of Eight Entrepreneurial Personality Dimensions: Validity Evidence of the BEPE Battery.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02352.].

Relationship Between Child Perfectionism and Psychological Disorders.

Objective: Perfectionism is one of the variables related to the correct emotional development or with the appearance of clinical symptomatology in childhood. A study has been designed to evaluate the differential effect that each dimension of perfectionism (external pressure, self-exigency, and negative self-evaluation) has in a Spanish children sample of general population for each of the following clinical aspects: irritability, worthlessness feelings, thinking problems, and psychophysiological symptoms. Method: By a random cluster sampling, a total of 2,636 children from 8 to 12 years (M = 9.9, SD = 1.2; 51.3% boys) took part in this research. A serial multiple mediators model was used to check the relation between external pressure over the clinical symptoms through self-exigency and negative-self-evaluation. Results: The results have shown a predictive effect of external pressure over a great variety of clinical symptomatology (irritability, worthlessness, thinking problems, and psychophysiological symptoms), a relation mediated by self-exigency and negative self-evaluation. These relations suggest that external pressure and negative self-evaluation are maladaptive dimensions as they predict the appearance of symptomatology, being the level of self-exigency a protective dimension and favoring the child's positive development. Conclusions: In consequence, these results point to the importance of the study of these variables that can generate difficulties in childhood in order to improve children's quality of life and their correct development.