The predictive utility of word familiarity for online engagements and funding.

Metacognitive frameworks such as processing fluency often suggest people respond more favorably to simple and common language versus complex and technical language. It is easier for people to process information that is simple and nontechnical compared to complex information, therefore leading to more engagement with targets. In two studies covering 12 field samples (total n = 1,064,533), we establish and replicate this simpler-is-better phenomenon by demonstrating people engage more with nontechnical language when giving their time and attention (e.g., simple online language tends to receive more social engagements). However, people respond to complex language when giving their money (e.g., complex language within charitable giving campaigns and grant abstracts tend to receive more money). This evidence suggests people engage with the heuristic of complex language differently depending on a time or money target. These results underscore language as a lens into social and psychological processes and computational methods to measure text patterns at scale.

Validation of the Parent Version of the Nighttime Fears Scale (NFS-P) for Children Aged 3-8 Years.

BACKGROUND: Nighttime fears are highly prevalent in children, ranging from normative fears to triggering fear-related anxiety disorders. The lack of available assessment instruments recently prompted the development of the Nighttime Fears Scale (NFS) for children aged 8-12 years. The present study aimed to adapt and psychometrically evaluate the parent-reported version for children aged 3-8 years (NFS-P) as a complement for younger children. METHODS: Two hundred eighty-four Spanish-speaking parents (47% girls) completed the NFS-P and anxiety measures. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses supported a four-factor structure of the NFS-P. Strong internal consistency and validity evidence were obtained. No significant differences were found in NFS-P scores between sexes and age groups. CONCLUSIONS: The findings offer support for the use of the NFS-P as a valuable instrument in clinical and research settings, supplementing the NFS for older children. Both scales provide an efficient means to comprehensively assess the presence and intensity of typical nighttime fears across preschool and school years.

Measuring object recognition ability: Reliability, validity, and the aggregate z-score approach.

Measurement of domain-general object recognition ability (o) requires minimization of domain-specific variance. One approach is to model o as a latent variable explaining performance on a battery of tests which differ in task demands and stimuli; however, time and sample requirements may be prohibitive. Alternatively, an aggregate measure of o can be obtained by averaging z-scores across tests. Using data from Sunday et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151, 676-694, (2022), we demonstrated that aggregate scores from just two such object recognition tests provide a good approximation (r = .79) of factor scores calculated from a model using a much larger set of tests. Some test combinations produced correlations of up to r = .87 with factor scores. We then revised these tests to reduce testing time, and developed an odd one out task, using a unique object category on nearly every trial, to increase task and stimuli diversity. To validate our measures, 163 participants completed the object recognition tests on two occasions, one month apart. Providing the first evidence that o is stable over time, our short aggregate o measure demonstrated good test-retest reliability (r = .77). The stability of o could not be completely accounted for by intelligence, perceptual speed, and early visual ability. Structural equation modeling suggested that our tests load significantly onto the same latent variable, and revealed that as a latent variable, o is highly stable (r = .93). Aggregation is an efficient method for estimating o, allowing investigation of individual differences in object recognition ability to be more accessible in future studies.

Large-scale analysis of test-retest reliabilities of self-regulation measures.

The ability to regulate behavior in service of long-term goals is a widely studied psychological construct known as self-regulation. This wide interest is in part due to the putative relations between self-regulation and a range of real-world behaviors. Self-regulation is generally viewed as a trait, and individual differences are quantified using a diverse set of measures, including self-report surveys and behavioral tasks. Accurate characterization of individual differences requires measurement reliability, a property frequently characterized in self-report surveys, but rarely assessed in behavioral tasks. We remedy this gap by (i) providing a comprehensive literature review on an extensive set of self-regulation measures and (ii) empirically evaluating test-retest reliability of this battery in a new sample. We find that dependent variables (DVs) from self-report surveys of self-regulation have high test-retest reliability, while DVs derived from behavioral tasks do not. This holds both in the literature and in our sample, although the test-retest reliability estimates in the literature are highly variable. We confirm that this is due to differences in between-subject variability. We also compare different types of task DVs (e.g., model parameters vs. raw response times) in their suitability as individual difference DVs, finding that certain model parameters are as stable as raw DVs. Our results provide greater psychometric footing for the study of self-regulation and provide guidance for future studies of individual differences in this domain.

Depression Screening in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinics: Recommendations and a Toolkit for Implementation.

OBJECTIVE: Rates of youth depression are increasing, and approximately 75% of adolescents with depression go unrecognized. Research in pediatric IBD documents increased depression risk, with rates up to 25%, as well as worse adherence and treatment outcomes associated with depressive symptoms. Evidence-based psychological interventions improve the physical and emotional health of these patients, highlighting the importance of detection and treatment. Psychosocial screening has been shown to increase the accurate identification of psychosocial problems and facilitate timely psychosocial intervention. The objective of this article is to establish clinical guidelines for depression screening in youth diagnosed with IBD and to provide resources for implementation. METHODS: The psychosocial screening task force group constituted of psychologists and social workers in the ImproveCareNow (ICN) learning health system reviewed research and clinical guidelines in other fields, and consulted with physicians, nurses, other psychosocial professionals, patients with IBD, and parents of children with IBD in ICN. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended that adolescents with IBD ages 12 and older be screened for depression annually. Additional practical recommendations for implementation, triage, and treatment within the pediatric gastroenterology clinic are also provided.

Multisensory stimuli enhance 3-year-old children's executive function: A three-dimensional object version of the standard Dimensional Change Card Sort.

A three-dimensional object version of the standard Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) was developed to examine the influence of multisensory stimuli on 3-year-old children's executive function. Whereas the developmental phenomenon marking 3-year-olds' difficulties with rule use in the standard DCCS can be attributed to several cognitive factors, we examined the possibility that better encoding of object features could facilitate children's rule-switching behavior. We examined whether 3-year-olds might be able to capitalize on cues available to multiple senses to create a more robust representation of object features that would enable them to overcome previous difficulties with rule switching in the standard DCCS. Participants were randomly assigned to the standard two-dimensional DCCS or the three-dimensional object version that was designed to match the rabbit and boat images used in the card version. The 3-year-olds who completed the object version outperformed those who completed the standard card version, succeeding in switching rules more accurately when provided with visual, auditory-verbal labeling, and tactile information of object features. Notably, more children achieved perfect accuracy and fewer children achieved floor-level performance in the object version than in the card version. We attribute 3-year-olds' success in the object version to greater cognitive control made possible by the enhanced encoding of the stimulus properties through multisensory input and enhanced cognitive processing of ecologically valid three-dimensional objects.

Measurement of Parenting Self-efficacy Among Female HIV-Affected Caregivers in Uganda.

OBJECTIVES: Parenting self-efficacy has been associated with positive parenting behaviors, fewer parental mental health problems, less family dysfunction, and better child development outcomes. The parenting sense of competence (PSOC) scale is commonly used to measure parenting self-efficacy in high-resource settings. This study sought to examine the factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent construct validity of the PSOC in a sample of predominantly HIV-infected women in Uganda. METHODS: Using data from 155 HIV-affected caregivers who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a parenting intervention, two and three factor models of a 16-item translated version of the PSOC were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Multivariable regression models were used to examine relationships between parenting confidence (operationalized using the best-fitting PSOC model), caregiver mental health symptoms (depression and anxiety), social support, family dysfunction, and family wealth, after adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Neither the two- nor three-factor models of the PSOC demonstrated adequate model fit; however, adequate model fit was demonstrated for a one-factor model that included only items from the PSOC efficacy subscale. Cronbach's alpha was 0.73 for this subscale. Correlates of parenting self-efficacy in this sample included caregiver depression, family dysfunction, and family wealth, but not caregiver anxiety or social support. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: These findings lend support for future use of the PSOC efficacy subscale among HIV-affected caregivers of children in low-resource settings such as rural Uganda.

The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale: Construct and Predictive Validity in the Italian Context.

The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) is a self-report instrument assessing the satisfaction and frustration of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness defined by self-determination theory. The aim of this study was to examine the dimensionality, the predictive validity, and the measurement invariance across different age groups of the Italian version of the BPNSFS. The participants were 2,204 Italian adolescents and young adults (41% males) from 14 to 28 years old (M age = 20.23, SD = 4.25). The invariance across age demonstrated adequate equivalence of the 6-factor model of scales across adolescents (14-18 years) and young adults (20-24 years), showing general homogeneity with respect to the constructs measured in the Italian context. Results of this study suggest that the satisfaction and frustration subscales for each need might be treated separately, because they might have unique effects that should be explored. For this reason, the BPNSFS could be a useful instrument in the counseling context because it can be easily used by operators both for assessment and for evaluation of the effects and results of counseling intervention.

Classification accuracy of the rare symptoms and symptom combinations scales of the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology in three archival samples.

OBJECTIVE: The Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS; Widows & Smith, 2005) is a 75-item self-report measure intended to screen for potentially feigned symptoms of mental illness and/or cognitive impairment. We investigated the classification accuracy of 2 new detection scales (Rare Symptoms [RS] and Symptom Combinations [SC]) developed by Rogers, Robinson, and Gillard (2014) that appeared useful in identifying simulated mental disorder in their derivation sample of psychiatric inpatients. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that the rates of classification accuracy Rogers et al. reported for these 2 scales would generalize to other samples in which the utility of the SIMS previously has been investigated. METHOD: We computed RS and SC scores from archival SIMS data collected as part of 3 research projects investigating malingering detection methods: (a) general population prison inmates and inmates in a prison psychiatric unit receiving treatment for mental disorder (N = 115), (b) college students (N = 196), and (3) community-dwelling adults (N = 48). RESULTS: Results supported the global classification accuracy of RS and SC but the suggested cut-score for both scales (>6) produced poor sensitivity. Lower potential cut-offs did, however, improve sensitivity to feigning somewhat while not excessively diminishing specificity. CONCLUSION: These results emphasize the importance of generalizability research when investigating the clinical utility of forensic mental health assessment methods, particularly specific decision rules used to classify individuals into discrete categories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive-attentional syndrome - The psychometric properties of the CAS-1 and multi-measure CAS-based clinical diagnosis.

The Cognitive-attentional Syndrome Questionnaire (CAS-1) is a short self-descriptive measure developed to provide information regarding the severity of cognitive-attentional syndrome, a key construct in metacognitive therapy. The three presented studies explore the psychometric properties of the CAS-1. Study 1 was based on a community sample (N = 1225) and explored the factor structure of the CAS-1, its relations with measures of rumination and metacognitive beliefs, and its demographic structure. Study 2, performed on an internet-based sample (N = 602), explored relations of the CAS-1 with measures of rumination, psychopathology, and quality of life. This study also dealt with the validity of the CAS-1. Study 3 was conducted on participants selected from study 1 (n = 98), based on the results of the CAS-1 and other measures. It explored the predictive validity of the questionnaire's diagnosis through ascertaining clinical diagnoses. All three studies confirm the reliability of the CAS-1. Its validity was confirmed by significant associations with measures of rumination, metacognitive beliefs, psychopathology, and quality of life. Two-factor and four-factor structures of the CAS-1 were confirmed, with the two-factor model better fitting the data. The results obtained show that the CAS-1 has good psychometric properties; its current form is deemed most acceptable for clinical use and we advise use of combined measures of CAS or development of a more expanded measure of CAS for research purposes.

The psychometric properties of the Barkin index of maternal functioning (BIMF) for the Iranian population.

BACKGROUND: Mothers' capability for childcare and compatibility with the maternal role represent important challenges in postpartum care. Given the significance of evaluating maternal functioning, and the lack of adequate standard instruments in Iran for this purpose, the present study was aimed at translating and conducting a psychometric assessment of the Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning (BIMF) for Iranian women. METHODS: The instrument was translated into Persian using the Backward Forward method. The study included 530 women in the postpartum period admitted to healthcare centers in Tabriz, Iran; they were selected through the cluster sampling method. Face, content, and construct (through exploratory and confirmatory analyses) validity were presently examined. Reliability of the questionnaire was determined using the internal consistency and test-retest reliability methods. RESULTS: Two factors (mom's needs and competency), emerged based on exploratory factor analysis. The x2/df ratio was less than 5, and the values of the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and the Root Mean Square Residual (RMR) were less than 0.08 and 0.1, respectively, verifying the model validity. Cronbach's alpha coefficient and Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were calculated as 0.88 and 0.85, respectively, indicating reliability. CONCLUSION: The Persian version of the BIMF is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the postpartum functioning of Iranian mothers.

The TBI-CareQOL Measurement System: Development and Preliminary Validation of Health-Related Quality of Life Measures for Caregivers of Civilians and Service Members/Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a new measurement system, the Traumatic Brain Injury Caregiver Quality of Life (TBI-CareQOL), that can evaluate both general and caregiving-specific aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in caregivers of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). DESIGN: New item pools were developed and refined using literature reviews, qualitative data from focus groups, and cognitive debriefing with caregivers of civilians and service members/veterans with TBI, as well as expert review, reading level assessment, and translatability review; existing item banks and new item pools were assessed using an online data capture system. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory, and differential item functioning analyses were utilized to develop new caregiver-specific item banks. Known-groups validity was examined using a series of independent samples t tests comparing caregivers of low-functioning vs high-functioning persons with TBI for each of the new measures, as well as for 10 existing Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measures. SETTING: Three TBI Model Systems rehabilitation hospitals, an academic medical center, and a military medical treatment facility. PARTICIPANTS: Caregivers (N=560) of civilians (n=344) or service members/veterans with TBI (n=216). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The TBI-CareQOL measurement system (including 5 new measures and 10 existing PROMIS measures). RESULTS: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory, and differential item functioning analyses supported the development of 5 new item banks for Feelings of Loss-Self, Feelings of Loss-Person with TBI, Caregiver-Specific Anxiety, Feeling Trapped, and Caregiver Strain. In support of validity, individuals who were caring for low-functioning persons with TBI had significantly worse HRQOL than caregivers that were caring for high-functioning persons with TBI for both the new caregiver-specific HRQOL measures, and for the 10 existing PROMIS measures. CONCLUSIONS: The TBI-CareQOL includes both validated PROMIS measures and newly developed caregiver-specific measures. Together, these generic and specific measures provide a comprehensive assessment of HRQOL for caregivers of civilians and service members/veterans with TBI.

Development of a new measure for mental retirement; testing of a three-factor structure of mentale retirement in different subgroups.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to develop a new measure for the concept of mental retirement and test the construct validity of the measure. Employees who are 'mentally retired' are present at their work physically, but have already said their goodbyes mentally. Mental retirement has a three-factor structure: developmental proactivity, work engagement and perceived appreciation. METHODS: We use data from employees (N = 867) of five different organizations in the Netherlands. Mental retirement was assessed with 11 items in an online survey. In addition, socio-demographic characteristics like age, level of education and occupation, were measured. Next to tests of internal consistency, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is performed to test the three-factor structure of mental retirement in this population and in different subgroups (age, education, occupation). RESULTS: The internal consistency varies from .80 to .94 for the developmental proactivity scale and the work engagement scale, respectively (appreciation was measured with one item). For the CFA, the three-factor model fits the data adequately. Multiple group analyses also shows equal factor loadings in all subgroups, but the mean levels of mental retirement differ across subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the three-factor model of mental retirement in a general group of employees as well as across different subgroups. However, this study only tested the construct validity. Future research should study validity more extensively and be longitudinal in nature. In addition, the causal chain of antecedent variables to mental retirement and its outcomes should be considered. These studies could also focus on the effects of interventions aiming at preventing or decreasing the level of mental retirement in organizations.

Development and preliminary validation of a feeding coparenting scale (FCS).

Evidence is growing that fathers, along with mothers, play an important role in children's eating and obesity risk. Qualitative work with a small sample found that the roles of fathers and mothers are not mutually exclusive in shaping their child's eating behaviors, rather fathers and mothers may relate to one another in their roles as parents in food parenting (i.e., feeding coparenting). There is currently no self-reported measure of how fathers and mothers coparent around child feeding. However, it would be useful in order to be able to assess this construct more broadly. Hence, based on prior qualitative work and findings related to the roles of fathers and mothers in food parenting, we developed a feeding coparenting scale (FCS). Parent responses on the FCS and measures of related constructs (i.e., relationship satisfaction, traditional gender-role attitudes, general coparenting, and perceived involvement in child feeding tasks) that were hypothesized to relate to feeding coparenting were assessed among 307 parents (n = 178 females) of preschool-aged children through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) in order to examine the validity and reliability of the FCS. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the FCS. Three factors emerged: 1) shared positive views and values in child feeding, 2) active engagement in child feeding, and 3) solo parenting in child feeding. A total feeding coparenting score was also calculated. Support for construct validity of the measure with constructs hypothesized to be associated with FCS (e.g., relationship satisfaction) was observed. The internal consistency of the FCS total and subscales was adequate for whole sample, fathers, and mothers. Results suggest that the FCS may be a useful tool for assessing how mothers and fathers work together with each other in the child feeding domain.

Usability study and pilot validation of a computer-based emotion recognition test for older adults with Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to carry out a pilot validation of Affect-GRADIOR, a computer-based emotion recognition test, with older adults. The study evaluated its usability, reliability and validity for the screening of people with Alzheimer´s disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). METHODS: The test was administered to 212 participants (76.37 ± 6.20 years) classified into three groups (healthy controls, n = 69; AD, n = 84; and aMCI, n = 59) on the basis of detailed neurological, neuropsychological, laboratory and neuro-imaging evidence. Data on usability were collected by means of a questionnaire and automated evaluation. RESULTS: The validated test comprised 53 stimuli and 7 practice items (one per emotion). Participants reported that Affect-GRADIOR was accessible and user-friendly. It had high internal consistency (ordinal Cronbach's α = 0.96). Test-retest reliability correlations were significant and robust (r = 0.840, p < 0.001). Exploratory factor analysis supported a seven-factor model of the emotions assessed (neutral expression, happiness, surprise, disgust, sadness, anger and fear). Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses suggested that the test discriminated healthy older adults from AD and aMCI cases. Correct answer score improved MMSE predictive power from 0.547 to 0.560 (Cox & Snell R2, p = 0.012), and Affect-GRADIOR speed of processing score improved MMSE predictive power from 0.547 to 0.563 (Cox & Snell R2, p = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: Affect-GRADIOR is a valid instrument for the assessment of the facial recognition of emotions in older adults with and without cognitive impairment.

The Social Meaning in Life Events Scale (SMILES): A preliminary psychometric evaluation in a bereaved sample.

A mourner's success in making meaning of a loss has proven key in predicting a wide array of bereavement outcomes. However, much of this meaning-making process takes place in an interpersonal framework that is hypothesized to either aid or obstruct this process. To date, a psychometrically validated measure of the degree to which a mourner successfully makes meaning of a loss in a social context has yet to be developed. The present study examines the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a new measure called the Social Meaning in Life Events Scale (SMILES) in a sample of bereaved college students (N = 590). The SMILES displayed a two-factor structure, with one factor assessing the extent to which a mourner's efforts at making meaning were invalidated (Social Invalidation subscale), and the other assessing the extent to which a mourner's meaning-making process was validated (Social Validation subscale). The subscales displayed good reliability and construct validity in reference to several outcome variables of interest (complicated grief, general health, and post-loss growth), as well as related but different variables (social support and meaning made). The subscales also demonstrated group differences according to two demographic variables associated with complications in the mourning process (age and mode of loss), as well as incremental validity in predicting adverse bereavement outcomes over and above general social support. Clinical and research implications involving the use of this new measure are discussed.

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Informant Discrepancy, Measurement Invariance, and Test-Retest Reliability.

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) is a measure widely used to assess childhood anxiety based on parent and child report. However, while the SCARED is a reliable, valid, and sensitive measure to screen for pediatric anxiety disorders, informant discrepancy can pose clinical and research challenges. The present study assesses informant discrepancy, measurement invariance, test-retest reliability, and external validity of the SCARED in 1092 anxious and healthy parent-child dyads. Our findings indicate that discrepancy does not vary systematically by the various clinical, demographic, and familial variables examined. There was support for strict measurement invariance, strong test-retest reliability, and adequate external validity with a clinician-rated measure of anxiety. These findings further support the utility of the SCARED in clinical and research settings, but low parent-child agreement highlights the need for further investigation of factors contributing to SCARED informant discrepancy.

The Reliability and Validity of the Arabic Version of the Composite Abuse Scale.

Research that examines intimate partner violence (IPV) in the Arab world has been hampered by a lack of comprehensive valid and culturally appropriate measures. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the Composite Abuse Scale (CAS) in a sample of 299 Saudi women recruited from primary healthcare centers. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) did not support the original four-factor structure of CAS. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the item pool reliably distinguished four different types of abuse (physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, and control). Two items were dropped from the scale leaving a 27-item scale. The final four-factor model with 27 items was supported through further CFA, including analyses supporting the fit of the four-factor model on a higher level, second-order concept (IPV). Total and subscales CAS scores demonstrate excellent to good reliability and evidence of concurrent validity based on correlations with established measures of depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression [CESD]) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version [PCL-C]).

The Self-Report Delinquency Scale From the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Among At-Risk for Delinquency Youths.

Juvenile delinquency is a universal problem, with serious personal, economic, and social consequences that span national boundaries. Thus, cross-culturally valid and reliable measures of delinquency are critical to providing a better understanding of the causes, correlates, and outcomes of delinquency. The main aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the self-report delinquency measure items created for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). A sample (N = 412) of male (n = 200) and female (n = 212) at-risk for delinquency youths agreed to participate in the present study. The measure demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, namely in terms of its two-factor structure (violent and nonviolent delinquency), internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, criterion-related validity, and known-groups validity. Findings suggest the Add Health Self-Report Delinquency (AHSRD) is an interculturally valid and reliable measure of violent and nonviolent delinquency among at-risk male and female youths.