Journal of personality assessment最新文献

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is the second most commonly used performance-based task. However, traditional TAT administration is time-consuming and raises accessibility issues. Research exploring administration modifications has found that within a lab setting, having participants type their own narratives leads to richer responses than when participants narrate the stories out loud to an examiner. The current study extends prior research by investigating the impact of card presentation (hard copy versus computer screen) and setting (in the lab versus online) on narrative quality. A four-card TAT protocol was administered to 134 college students in three separate conditions: in lab with hard copies of cards, in lab with images on the computer, and online in which participants could take the TAT wherever they wished. In all conditions, participants typed their narratives. The narratives were scored using the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale- Global Rating Method (SCORS-G). MANOVA procedures showed that SCORS-G ratings were not affected by card presentation or setting and add to prior work to suggest that the TAT can be administered online without a diminution in the quality of SCORS-G ratings at least with some populations.

In narrative identity research, variables are typically captured through detailed content-coding of personal narratives. Yet, alternative methods have been suggested, notably self-report scales, because they capture a participant's own interpretation of their personal narratives, and because they are efficient to administer as a supplement to more labor-intensive coding methods. This study developed and validated the Narrative Identity Self-Evaluation (NISE) questionnaire. In Study 1, the questionnaire was developed through exploratory factor analysis (n = 425) and its criterion validity examined. In Study 2, the NISE factor structure and criterion relationships were confirmed (n = 304). In Study 3 (based on the same sample as Study 1), content-coding of 11 narrative identity characteristics in open-ended personal story accounts was conducted, and NISE scores were compared to corresponding content-coded variables. The 20-item NISE has three factors replicating common dimensions in narrative identity (autobiographical reasoning, desire for structure, positive motivational/affective themes) and a novel fourth factor capturing disturbances of narrative identity. The NISE correlated in theoretically-coherent ways with content coded narrative identity variables, self-report traits, and measures relevant for narrative identity, self-concept, well-being, and psychopathology. We discuss the scale's advantages in complementing content-coding of narrative accounts to assess variation in narrative identity within both clinical and non-clinical populations.

Given the critical role of socio-emotional skills in students' academic success, psychological well-being, and other critical life outcomes, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) developed the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) to measure these skills among school-age students. However, the broad conceptual scope of socio-emotional skills necessitated the use of a large number of items (i.e., 120 items) in the original SSES, which poses challenges regarding survey administration and participant fatigue. To address these issues, this study aimed to develop a short form of the SSES (i.e., SSES-SF). The sample included 29,798 15-year-old students across 10 regions. We developed a 45-item version of SSES-SF using the machine learning approach of genetic algorithm, which is 62.5% shorter than the original 120-item SSES. The reliability, construct validity, reproduced information, concurrent validity, and measurement invariance of the SSES-SF were investigated. We found that the SSES-SF demonstrated satisfactory reliability, construct validity, and concurrent validity. Furthermore, the SSES-SF was able to reproduce a substantial amount of information from the original full-form SSES and exhibited measurement invariance across genders, regions, and language groups. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Forced-choice (FC) questionnaires have gained scientific interest over the last decades. However, the inclusion of unequally keyed item pairs in FC questionnaires remains a subject of debate, as there is evidence supporting both their usage and avoidance. Designing unequally keyed pairs may be more difficult when considering social desirability, as they might allow the identification of ideal responses. Nevertheless, they may enhance the reliability and the potential for normative interpretation of scores. To empirically investigate this topic, data were collected from 1,125 undergraduate Psychology students who completed a personality item pool measuring the Big Five personality traits in Likert-type format and two FC questionnaires (with and without unequally keyed pairs). These questionnaires were compared in terms of reliability, convergent and criterion validity, and ipsativity of the scores, along with insights on the construction process. While constructing questionnaires with unequally keyed blocks presented challenges in matching items on their social desirability, the differences observed in terms of reliability, validity, or ipsativity were sporadic and lacked systematic patterns. This suggests that neither questionnaire format exhibited a clear superiority. Given these results, it is recommended using only equally keyed blocks to minimize potential validity issues associated with response biases.

Therapeutic Assessment (TA) is a relatively new, short-term intervention that uses psychological tests to address clients' persistent problems in living. The core feature of TA is that assessors and clients work collaboratively in all the phases of the process, and psychological tests are used as "empathy magnifiers" to help assessors understand clients' "dilemmas of change" and promote positive change. An "ultra-brief" TA protocol involving an Initial Session, Test Administration and Extended Inquiry, and Summary/Discussion Session was undertaken with three adult clients in China. A case-based time-series design with daily measures was used to assess the outcome of TA. Recruited in a natural setting, all 3 clients benefited from participation in the TA. These results suggest that Ultra-brief TA may be a promising treatment for Chinese adult clients with a variety of psychological concerns.

Language is a fundamental aspect of human culture that influences cognitive and perceptual processes. Prior evidence demonstrates personality self-report can vary across multilingual persons' language contexts. We assessed how cultural identification, language dominance, or both dynamically influence bilingual respondents' self-conception, via self-reported personality, across English and Spanish contexts. During separate English and Spanish conditions, 133 Hispanic/Latino bilingual participants (70 female) completed the Big Five Inventory of personality. We used language use and acculturation surveys completed in both languages to calculate participants' relative language dominance and identification with U.S.-American and Hispanic culture. Participants reported higher levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism in English relative to Spanish. Language dominance predicted cross-language differences in personality report, with higher extraversion reported in participants' dominant language. Within each language, greater endorsement of U.S.-American identity was associated with higher extraversion and conscientiousness and lower reported neuroticism. Agreeableness report in both languages was positively predicted by Hispanic identification. Our results clarify existing literature related to language and cultural effects on personality report among U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. These findings could inform assessments of self-relevant cognitions across languages among bilingual populations and hold relevance for health outcomes affected by cultural processes.

Coefficient alpha estimates the degree to which scale scores reflect systematic variation due to one or more common dimensions. Coefficient beta, on the other hand, estimates the degree to which scale scores reflect a single dimension common among all the items; that is, the target construct a scale attempts to measure. As such, the magnitude of beta, relative to alpha, informs on the ability to meaningfully interpret derived scale scores as reflecting a single construct. Despite its clear interpretative usefulness, coefficient beta is rarely reported and, perhaps, not well understood. As such, we first describe how coefficient alpha and beta are analogues to model-based reliability coefficients omega total and omega hierarchical. We then demonstrate with simulated data how these indices function under a variety of data structures. Finally, we perform a hierarchical cluster analysis of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire's Stress Reaction Scale, estimating alpha and beta, as clusters form. This demonstrates a chief advantage of alpha and beta; they do not require a formal structural model. Moreover, we illustrate how scales that primarily are based on sets of homogeneous item clusters can "ramp up" to yield reliable scores with conceptual breadth and predominantly reflect the intended target construct.

Clinical assessment increasingly emphasizes six maladaptive domains of the DSM-5 and ICD-11 trait models, including negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism/dissociality, disinhibition, psychoticism, and anankastia. The present study aimed to validate the Persian version of the ICD-11 compatible Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Brief Form Plus, Modified (PID5BF + M). Data from a mixed sample including 1,615 adults (community N = 1,476 and outpatient N = 139) were used to assess the latent structure, congruence coefficients, reliability, convergent validity, and criterion validity of the PID5BF + M. The results supported the six-factor structure of the PID5BF + M whose traits are largely congruent with those from previous studies. The scale reliabilities were acceptable, and strong associations were observed with personality disorder-type symptom counts (r ranging from .15 to .59, all p < .001). PID5BF + M scales also distinguished clinical and non-clinical samples. The present results support the validity and utility of the PID5BF + M for personality psychopathology screening in the Iranian population.

Self-report assessments are the standard for personality measurement, but motivated respondents are able to manipulate or fake their responses to typical Likert scale self-report. Although progress has been made in research seeking to reduce faking, most of it has focused on normative personality traits such as those measured by the five factor model. The measurement of socially aversive personality (e.g., the Dark Triad) is less well-researched. The negative aspects of socially aversive traits increase the opportunity and motivation of respondents to fake typical single-stimulus self-report assessments underscoring the need for faking resistant response formats. A possible way to reduce faking that has been explored in basic personality research is the use of the forced-choice response format. This study applied this method to socially aversive traits and illustrated best practices to create new multidimensional forced-choice and single-stimulus measures of socially aversive personality traits. Results indicated that participants were able to artificially alter their scores when asked to respond like an ideal job applicant, and counter to expectations, the forced-choice format did not decrease faking. Our results indicate that even when best practices are followed, forced-choice format is not a panacea for respondent faking.

Both the new ICD-11 and the latest Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders focus on self and interpersonal functioning as the central feature of personality pathology, also acknowledging that personality disorders are organized along a dimensional continuum of severity. This revised understanding is in line with long-standing psychodynamic conceptualisations of personality pathology, in particular Kernberg's object relations model of personality organization. Despite existing evidence for the clinical utility of the derived Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO-R), empirical support for the identification of clear cut-points between the different levels of personality functioning is missing. For this purpose, a total of 764 adult participants were recruited across two clinical (outpatient and inpatient) settings (n = 250) and two non-clinical (university students and general community) samples (n = 514). Results from the mixture modeling suggested the existence of five groups across the clinical and non-clinical samples that covered: healthy personality functioning, maladaptive personality rigidity, and mild, moderate, and severe levels of personality pathology. All five indicators of personality organization were found to be reliable predictors of personality pathology. Of the five STIPO-R indicators, Aggression and Moral Values had the most discriminative power for differentiating between the Mild, Moderate, and Severe personality disorder groups. Implications of these findings are discussed.