Assessment最新文献

Empirically supported measures of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are needed to serve as reference outcomes for suicide risk screening tools and to monitor severity and treatment progress in children and adolescents with STBs. The present paper systematically reviewed existing measures of STBs in youth and studies evaluating their psychometric properties and clinical utility. Measures were then evaluated on reliability, validity, and clinical utility. Sixteen articles (20 independent samples) were found with psychometric data with youth samples for eight measures. Interview-based measures were found to have the strongest psychometric support and clinical utility. Significant limitations exist for all self-report measures due to inherent characteristics of these measures that cannot be remedied through additional psychometric study. There is an urgent need for the development and validation of new self-report measures of STBs, particularly for preadolescent children, sexual and gender minority youth, and racial/ethnic minority youth.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), includes 10 categorical personality disorders (PD) in Section II (Section II PD) and a dimensional alternative model of PD (AMPD) in Section III. We compared the two models in explaining concurrent psychosocial functioning levels in psychiatric outpatients and community residents screened as at risk for PD pathology (N = 600). The AMPD's fully dimensional form showed stronger associations with psychosocial difficulties and explained more of their variance compared with the categorical Section II PD. AMPD Criterion A (personality functioning impairment) and Criterion B (pathological traits) incrementally predicted psychosocial functioning about equally with some unique predictions. Finally, AMPD's six categorical PD diagnoses did not show stronger associations with psychosocial functioning than the corresponding Section II PD diagnoses. Findings directly comparing the two models remain important and timely for informing future conceptualizations of PD in the diagnostic system.

This study assessed psychometric qualities of indirect measures assessing Implicit Theories (ITs) of sexual offending: Implicit Association Task (IAT), Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), and Relational Responding Task (RRT). For comparison reasons, aggressive behavior was also assessed. In a male sample from the general population (N = 109), we assessed each measure's (a) feasibility (mean latency, error rate, passing criteria), (b) internal consistency, (c) convergent and discriminant validity, and (d) incremental and predictive validity. Results indicated that no indirect measure met all criteria. Although the IAT was reasonably feasible and reliable in measuring aggression, ITs could not be reliably assessed. The RRT was feasible and somewhat reliable in assessing ITs, whereas the IRAP showed limited feasibility, high task complexity, low reliability, and the presence of a method factor. No measure had incremental predictive validity over the use of self-report measures, although we note that the power to detect such associations was limited. As none of the indirect measures performed satisfactorily on the measured criteria, the use of these measures in clinical practice seems currently unwarranted to assess ITs.

The current research aimed to provide initial psychometric validation of a new multifaceted mindfulness questionnaire (referred to as the State Four Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, or the "state-4FMQ" for short) adapted from the commonly used Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (referred to as the "trait-FFMQ"). The research was divided into two pre-registered studies. In both, undergraduates partook in a 20-minute mindfulness meditation (via audio recording), and then answered questions, including the state-4FMQ, pertaining to their experience during the meditation. In Study 2, participants additionally partook in a 20-minute control condition. The state-4FMQ was developed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA; Study 1) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; Study 2). In Study 2, a short-form of the state-4FMQ was established, and several additional forms of measurement validity were tested. EFA and CFA results supported a four-factor structure, which was identical to the trait-FFMQ with the exclusion of Nonreactivity. This newly created state-4FMQ, and its short-form, showed good internal consistency as well as convergent, predictive, and construct validity. In addition, it was found that some facets, more than others, predicted momentary well-being. The validity of the state-4FMQ shows that it can be used to measure multiple facets of state mindfulness across a variety of situations.

The Cyber Aggression in Relationships Scale (CARS) is a widely used and validated measure of adult cyber intimate partner violence (C-IPV). The current study aimed to create a short screener of CARS (CARS-SS) through testing cross-cultural samples. To do so, we examined the rate of chosen items of the original scale on five pre-existing study samples: we then procured and tested the construct validity and reliability of the CARS-SS among two study samples (United States and Israel). Results of an item factor analysis confirmed one factor for both perpetration and victimization and analyses suggested good internal reliability. Overall, the CARS-SS was associated with a measure of in-person intimate partner violence. Findings suggest the CARS-SS may be a helpful measure of C-IPV among clinical and community samples of young adults.

Growing research suggests that clinical psychological traits are contiguous with normal personality and can be located within the same psychometric frameworks. In this article, we examined whether autism-related traits (ARTs) can plausibly be located within the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality. Across two studies (Ns = 408 and 423), participants completed measures of ARTs, broad FFM domains, and narrower FFM facets. We used empirically derived criteria to evaluate whether ARTs overlapped (i.e., shared variance) with the FFM domains to a degree that was comparable to FFM facets. Results suggested that most socially oriented ARTs could be represented as facets of the extraversion domain, whereas behaviorally oriented ARTs were more peripheral to the FFM. Cognitively oriented ARTs were less consistently linked with the FFM. These findings highlight the value of the FFM as an organizing framework for ARTs, marking an important step toward synthesis across the personality and autism literatures.

This study evaluated the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) as a tool for measuring worry and anxiety levels among individuals entering treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs). The sample included 75,047 individuals admitted to SUD treatment centers, with assessments conducted weekly. Individuals entering SUD treatment exhibited higher baseline levels of worry; however, worry levels declined over the course of treatment. The PSWQ demonstrated good internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, and good discriminant validity when correlated with measures of depression and stress. The factor structure analysis confirmed that the PSWQ measures the same underlying construct of worry in the SUD treatment population, with a single-factor model showing satisfactory fit. This extends the reach of the PSWQ to the SUD treatment population by reaffirming its reliability, validity, and factor structure, with the expectation of higher levels of worry compared to a non-SUD population at the beginning of treatment, which decline over time.

Literature on the location and contextual features of drinking events (i.e., physical context) remains scant and underdeveloped. This study developed and provided preliminary validation of a measure typical physical drinking contexts. Participants (N = 1,642) self-reported their typical physical drinking context (via items generated), their drinking behavior, demographics, and typical social drinking context. Three samples (total N = 1,642) assessed factor structure, measurement invariance, and validity testing. Factor analyses suggested a four-factor structure, indicative of high arousal private (e.g., at a large house party), high arousal public (e.g., at a concert), low arousal private (e.g., at home), and low arousal public (e.g., on a date) contexts. Measurement invariance was established across sex, race/ethnicity, and drinking frequency, and convergent and discriminant validity was evaluated via bivariate correlations with social/solitary drinking frequency. High arousal contexts were associated with heavier/binge drinking, whereas high arousal private contexts and low arousal contexts were associated with greater negative consequences. Relations between high arousal contexts and heavier drinking remained above and beyond the overall drinking frequency and social context items. Findings lay the framework for future validation and longitudinal/diary studies to test how (and for whom) relations between physical drinking contexts and drinking behavior operate.

The validity and utility of translated instruments (psychological measures) depend on the quality of their translation, and differences in key linguistic characteristics could introduce bias. Likewise, linguistic differences between instruments designed to measure analogous constructs might contribute to similar instruments possessing dissimilar psychometrics. This article introduces and demonstrates the use of natural language processing (NLP), a subfield of artificial intelligence, to linguistically analyze 13 translations of two psychological measures previously translated into numerous languages. NLP was used to generate estimates reflecting specific linguistic characteristics of test items (emotional tone/intensity, sentiment, valence, arousal, and dominance), which were then compared across translations at both the test- and item-level, as well as between the two instruments. Results revealed that key linguistic characteristics can profoundly vary both within and between tests. Following a discussion of results, the current limitations of this approach are summarized and strategies for advancing this methodology are proposed.

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is widely used in clinical and non-clinical research. However, the structural properties of RMET scores have yet to be rigorously examined. We analyzed the structural properties of RMET scores in nine existing datasets comprising non-clinical samples ranging from 558 to 9,267 (median = 1,112) participants each. We used confirmatory factor analysis to assess two theoretically derived factor models, exploratory factor analysis to identify possible alternative factor models, and reliability estimates to assess internal consistency. Neither of the theoretically derived models was a good fit for any of the nine datasets, and we were unable to identify any better fitting multidimensional models. Internal consistency metrics were acceptable in six of the nine datasets, but these metrics are difficult to interpret given the uncertain factor structures. Our findings contribute to a growing body of evidence questioning the reliability and validity of RMET scores.