The Suicide Cognitions Scale-Revised (SCS-R) is a unidimensional measure of suicidal cognitions theorized to assess the suicide belief system. Several solutions have been proposed for the Suicide Cognitions Scale and SCS-R (e.g., bifactor model with two specific factors, bifactor model with two specific factors, three correlated factors model). Research indicates the endorsement of thoughts of suicide and suicide-related cognitions varies across demographics. Thus, the current investigation tested the measurement invariance (MI) of the SCS-R across gender, race, and sexual orientation within these proposed solutions and a unidimensional model. A national sample of N = 10,625 adults completed an online survey that included the SCS-R and self-report measures of demographics. Results indicated that the bifactor model with three specific factors, the bifactor model with two specific factors, and the three correlated factors models achieved scalar invariance across gender, race, and sexual orientation; a unidimensional model was not scalar invariant by gender. Tests of latent mean differences revealed significant differences in the general factor (i.e., suicidal belief system) and the specific unlovability, unbearability, and unsolvability factors between a few demographic groups. Implications for theory, measurement, and modeling are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Research on real-world patterns of substance use increasingly involves intensive longitudinal data (ILD) collection, requiring long assessment windows. The present study extends limited prior research examining event- and person-level influences on compliance and response consistency by investigating how these behaviors are sustained over time in an ILD study of alcohol and cannabis co-use in college students. Participants (n = 316) completed two 28-day bursts of ILD comprising five daily surveys, which included a morning survey of prior-day drinking. We used linear mixed effects models in a multilevel interrupted time series framework to evaluate the associations of time and measurement burst with (a) noncompliance (count of missed surveys) and (b) response consistency (difference between same-day report of drinking and morning report of prior-day drinking). We observed that time was positively associated with noncompliance, with no discontinuity associated with measurement burst. The slope of time was more positive in the second burst. Neither time nor measurement burst were significantly associated with consistent reporting. However, survey nonresponse and consistency of responding appeared to be impacted by the same-day use of substances. Overall, compliance decreased while consistency was stable across the duration of a lengthy ILD protocol. Shorter assessment windows or adaptive prompting strategies may improve overall study compliance. Further work examining daily burden and context is needed to inform future ILD design. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Cognitive disengagement syndrome (CDS), formerly termed sluggish cognitive tempo, is a set of symptoms characterized by excessive daydreaming, mental confusion, and slowed behavior/thinking. CDS is distinct from symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other psychopathologies and uniquely associated with functional impairment. However, despite significant progress in developing and evaluating rating scale measures of CDS, no clinical interview of CDS exists with established psychometric properties that can facilitate a multimethod approach assessing CDS. Accordingly, the present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the semistructured Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome-Clinical Interview (CDS-CI). The CDS-CI and the ADHD inattention (ADHD-IN) and hyperactive-impulsivity (ADHD-HI) modules from the Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS) were administered to a sample of early adolescents (N = 341, ages 10-12 years) and their caregivers. Adolescents and caregivers also completed rating scale measures of CDS and ADHD symptoms. The CDS-CI demonstrated high internal consistency and interrater reliability. CDS-CI scores showed excellent same-source discriminant validity from K-SADS, ADHD-IN, and ADHD-HI scores and encouraging convergent and discriminant validity with rating scale measures, especially for caregivers. Above and beyond K-SADS, ADHD-IN, and ADHD-HI scores, higher parent and adolescent CDS-CI scores were both significantly associated with greater functional impairment. A threshold of ≥ 6 out of 15 symptoms was selected as an initial threshold for determining clinically elevated CDS using the CDS-CI. Findings provide psychometric support for the CDS-CI as a tool in the multimethod assessment of CDS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Effort Index (EI) may be unreliable at its standard recommended cutoff score when used with forensic psychiatric inpatient populations given high rates of genuine cognitive impairment. The present study sought to (a) examine the rate of invalid performance on the RBANS EI using the standard cutoff among incompetent to stand trial (IST) inpatients and (b) investigate the psychometric properties of the RBANS EI at various cutoff scores. This study was conducted using archival assessment data collected at a large forensic psychiatric hospital. Across the entire sample (N = 238, 79% male, Mage = 45 years, 24% primary Spanish-speaking), 79% were diagnosed with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Experiment 1 of the study (n = 165) contained IST patients who were classified as having a valid presentation. Experiment 2 contained a valid (n = 46) and invalid (n = 27) presentation group comprised of postadjudication and IST inpatients, respectively. In Experiment 1, over one third (36.4%) of the valid presentation sample scored above the standard recommended EI cutoff. In Experiment 2, applying the standard recommended cutoff score of > 3 was associated with a false positive rate of over 20%. Obtaining < 10% false positive errors was achieved at a cutoff score of > 5. At this cutoff score, the estimated local base rate of invalid responding among IST patients was 28%. Clinical and forensic implications and recommendations for adopting this more conservative RBANS EI cutoff score are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Progress monitoring is integral to evidence-based practice. Correctional settings, especially the supervision of individuals who commit sexual offenses, elicit public concern; negative outcomes can be catastrophic. Using a prospective longitudinal study of 2,939 men with a history of sexual offenses undergoing community supervision, we examined different models of progress monitoring and how they should inform the assessment of risk for sexual recidivism. We found that the most recent assessment scores of the ACUTE-2007 and STABLE-2007 sexual recidivism risk tools provided the best information about reoffending risk compared to using (a) the worst period of adjustments (i.e., highest risk score), (b) the best period of adjustments (i.e., lowest risk score), or (c) a rolling average of scores. We also found that the latest STABLE-2007 scores incrementally predicted sexual recidivism beyond baseline risk as assessed by demographic and criminal history variables (Static-99R). We conclude that the risk for sexual recidivism changes over time and that community corrections is advanced by repeated assessment of dynamic (changeable) risk factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Everyday well-being appraisals are judgments about the goodness of recent daily life events. These appraisals are expected to be distinct from other types of well-being involving traits, affect, and psychological distress and expected to be uniquely important for understanding health behavior such as exercise, diet, and treatment adherence for people with medical conditions. To develop and test a new Everyday Wellbeing Appraisal Scale, two studies were conducted in which a total of 718 people with hypertension completed online questionnaires. In Study 1, to achieve maximum validity with the fewest number of items, an empirical analysis was used to select a set of six items with high discrimination that incorporated multiple types of response-option formats. In Study 2, the scale's unidimensional factor structure and high discrimination were confirmed, and the new scale outperformed several existing types of well-being scales in its ability to explain unique variance in health behavior criterion variables. Specifically, it explained unique variance in health behavior after controlling for a widely used measure assessing trait-level reflections of well-being, as well as measures of positive affect and two types of psychological distress. Also, when compared to the trait-level measure of well-being, the new scale demonstrated less overlap with affect and psychological distress. These results suggest that this brief, new scale is valuable for assessing a distinct construct that is especially salient for understanding health behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
With the publication of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a set of dimensional criteria was added as an emerging alternative model to the diagnosis of personality disorder (PD; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Parallel to this, within the object relations conceptualization of personality pathology, a structured interview, the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO), was developed to assess pathological personality and then revised (STIPO-R). In this study, the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the STIPO-R were tested on a sample of 236 Chinese participants, including both psychiatric patients and healthy individuals. Overall, the STIPO-R showed good internal consistency, interrater and test-retest reliability, and generally satisfactory results in structure and convergent validity. The STIPO-R also demonstrated discriminant validity (healthy individuals vs. psychiatric patients with PD vs. psychiatric patients without PD). Results are also discussed in light of cultural differences between Chinese and Western cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) is a parent-report scale measuring young children's anxiety symptoms involving five specific anxiety symptoms (separation anxiety, physical injury fears, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety) that load on a higher-order factor representing general anxiety shared by all specific anxiety symptom subtypes. Although the PAS has been widely used to assess anxiety symptoms in young children, few studies have tested its measurement invariance for group comparisons. Using data from a sample of 2,221 children and their parents/carers in the United Kingdom, this study investigated the measurement invariance of the higher-order model of the PAS across child age (4-6 years vs. 6-7 years), gender (girls vs. boys), parental anxiety (low vs. high level), and children's living circumstances (before vs. after the removal of COVID-19 restrictions). Our findings demonstrated the good factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity of the higher-order model of the PAS in all subgroups and supported its configural, metric, and scalar invariance across these subgroups. Therefore, the findings suggest that the PAS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing specific anxiety symptoms and general anxiety among young children in the United Kingdom and that comparisons can be made between the subgroups under examination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Research examining gender differences in perseverative cognition (repetitive, negative, and difficult-to-control thoughts) has focused on depressive rumination and internalizing syndromes. This study examines the transdiagnostic role of depressive rumination, anger rumination, and repetitive negative thinking across gender on internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Utilizing an ethnoracially diverse sample (33% Black, 35% Latinx, 32% White non-Hispanic) of n = 1,187 young adults (49.5% women), we found equivalent instrument functioning across gender for depressive rumination (specifically brooding), anger rumination, and internalizing problems. Differential item functioning was found for repetitive negative thinking and externalizing problems; partial metric and scalar invariance were established for repetitive negative thinking, and partial metric invariance was established for externalizing problems. After accounting for bias in measurement, women engaged in more perseverative cognition, though effects were small for brooding and anger rumination and large for repetitive negative thinking. Different types of perseverations were positively associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms across gender. Perseverative cognition may be a transdiagnostic mechanism beyond internalizing problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).