Are assessment center behaviors' meanings consistent across exercises? A measurement invariance approach

To examine the appropriateness of a Multi‐Trait–Multi‐Method framework for testing construct validity of Assessment Centers (ACs) and get practical implications for the improved AC design, degree to which the AC dimension‐related performance behaviors consistently manifest across multiple AC rating situations was investigated. The present study used a large sample (N = 5,006) to apply a measurement invariance analysis. AC rating situations generally produced consistent factor loadings for items on AC dimensions, item residuals, dimension factor variances, and covariance between dimensions. The AC rating situation of interview tended to produce higher ratings and less item residuals. These findings support the consistency in constructs assessed across different AC rating situations, while some exercises may be better for teasing apart particular dimensions than others.     

Infant attractiveness and perceived temperament in the prediction of attachment classifications

The influence of infant physical attractiveness and infant temperament on the mother-infant relationship at 12 months of age was examined. Physical attractiveness of the infant was rated by 48 adults, and infant temperament was assessed by use of the Toddler Temperament Scale, which yields indices of activity level, rhythmicity, approach, adaptability, intensity, mood, persistence, distractibility, and threshold. Mother-infant attachment was measured via the Strange Situation. Results showed that 46% of the variance in attachment classification was accounted for by five of the nine dimensions of temperament (withdrawal from new situations, high intensity of response, low distractibility, negative mood, and low threshold of response). Physical attractiveness and other dimensions of temperament did not add significant amounts of variance over and above that contributed by the first five dimensions to the prediction of attachment.     

The Abbreviated Dimensions of Temperament Survey: Factor Structure and Construct Validity Across Three Racial/Ethnic Groups

The factor structure, reliability, and construct validity of an abbreviated version of the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS–R) were evaluated across Black, Hispanic, and White early adolescents. Primary caregivers reported on 5 dimensions of temperament for 4,701 children. Five temperament dimensions were identified via maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis and were labeled flexibility, general activity level, positive mood, task orientation, and sleep rhythmicity. Multigroup mean and covariance structures analysis provided partial support for strong factorial invariance across these racial/ethnic groups. Mean level comparisons indicated that relative to Hispanics and Blacks, Whites had higher flexibility, greater sleep regularity, and lower activity. They also reported higher positive mood than Blacks. Blacks, relative to Hispanics, had higher flexibility and lower sleep regularity. Construct validity was supported as the 5 temperament dimensions were significantly correlated with externalizing problems and socioemotional competence. This abbreviated version of the DOTS–R could be used across racial/ethnic groups of early adolescents to assess significant dimensions of temperament risk that are associated with mental health and competent (healthy) functioning.     

The structure of infant temperament: Factor analysis of the revised infant temperament questionnaire

Factor analyses of the Carey and McDevitt (1978) Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ) with a representative sample of 2,443 Australian infants provided limited empirical support for its 9-dimension structure and indicated considerable redundancy in the scale. Of the 9 dimensions, only Rhythmicity and Persistence emerged as relatively pure factors. The other factors were formed from various combinations or divisions of the dimensions. Five infant temperament factors, Approach, Rhythmicity, Cooperation/Manageability, Activity/Reactivity, and Irritability, were chosen for the development of a short form (SITQ). This short form showed good internal consistency and replicability across subsamples of the total group, A 3-factor composite scale was also developed that allowed measurement of an easy to difficult continuum that was strongly related to concurrent behavior problems. Good test-retest reliability was demonstrated for both the 5 separate scales and the composite scale. Although similarities can be shown between the SITQ and various other infant temperament scales, the SITQ has the advantages of parsimony and a firm empirical basis.     

两岁儿童的行为抑制-非抑制特征

行为的抑制和非抑制是气质的一个重要维度,对儿童个性、社会性发展具有重要意义。该研究采用实验室观察法,设计了翻斗车、机器人、面具三种实验情境,测查随机抽样的１２２名两岁儿童的行为抑制－非抑制特征。结果表明：（１）按照Ｋａｇａｎ的划分指标,中国两岁儿童的抑制－非抑制行为呈负偏态分布,其中抑制型儿童约占２０％,非抑制型儿童约占１０％,其余为中间型;（２）在三种实验情境中,两岁儿童的抑制－非抑制行为具有中     

Early—but modest—gender differences in focal aspects of childhood temperament

The best evidence for gender differences in child temperament is in the broad areas of effortful control and surgency, and to an extent negative affectivity, domains that encompass temperament dimensions of inhibitory control, activity level, and shyness. We examined the influence of child gender in a methodologically comprehensively assessed twin sample. We used mother, father, and Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) ratings to assess temperament in 3 year-olds. Boys had higher levels of activity level and lower levels of shyness and inhibitory control than girls across all methods of assessment. Then, more rigorous testing showed that patterns of mean gender differences for opposite-sex twin pairs in our sample were very consistent with overall sample gender differences and the magnitude of these gender differences was consistent across assessment methodology. We then asked: are these more gendered dimensions of temperament associated with one another, and are associations different across gender? The answer to both questions is, yes. Shyer children have lower activity level and higher inhibitory control, and those with higher inhibitory control are less active. Gender differences did appear in the intercorrelations between parent ratings of shyness and inhibitory control with only girls showing significant associations within and across these dimensions.     

Deriving childhood temperament measures from emotion-eliciting behavioral episodes: scale construction and initial validation

The authors describe the development and initial validation of a home-based version of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB), which was designed to assess childhood temperament with a comprehensive series of emotion-eliciting behavioral episodes. This article provides researchers with general guidelines for assessing specific behaviors using the Lab-TAB and for forming behavioral composites that correspond to commonly researched temperament dimensions. We used mother ratings and independent postvisit observer ratings to provide validity evidence in a community sample of 4.5-year-old children. 12 Lab-TAB behavioral episodes were employed, yielding 24 within-episode temperament components that collapsed into 9 higher level composites (Anger, Sadness, Fear, Shyness, Positive Expression, Approach, Active Engagement, Persistence, and Inhibitory Control). These dimensions of temperament are similar to those found in questionnaire-based assessments. Correlations among the 9 composites were low to moderate, suggesting relative independence. As expected, agreement between Lab-TAB measures and postvisit observer ratings was stronger than agreement between the Lab-TAB and mother questionnaire. However, for Active Engagement and Shyness, mother ratings did predict child behavior in the Lab-TAB quite well. Findings demonstrate the feasibility of emotion-eliciting temperament assessment methodologies, suggest appropriate methods for data aggregation into trait-level constructs and set some expectations for associations between Lab-TAB dimensions and the degree of cross-method convergence between the Lab-TAB and other commonly used temperament assessments.     

Temperament and play interaction behavior across infancy

Temporal stability and convergent validity of infant temperament ratings and play interaction behaviors were examined across early to late infancy. Stability was noted for the temperament dimensions activity, rhythmicity, intensity, mood, and persistence. Stability also was noted for the infant play interaction behaviors looking, smiling, and vocalizing. In addition, convergent validity was noted for attentive-affective behaviors and comparable temperament ratings; for example, gaze aversion and nondistractability, and distress brow behavior and negative mood. Generally easier temperament infants were noted to vocalize more and to cry less frequently during their play interactions.     

Establishing the Cross-Situational Convergence of the Ability to Identify Criteria: Consistency and Prediction Across Similar and Dissimilar Assessment Center Exercises

In selection contexts, applicants’ ability to identify criteria (ATIC) refers to individual differences in the accuracy of perceptions with regard to what is required to be successful in evaluative situations. Despite promising findings regarding this construct, the cross-situational consistency necessary to infer that ATIC is a stable characteristic has generally been assessed in situations that have similar demands in terms of the competencies required for success. The purpose of this study was to provide a strong test of the theory underlying the construct by examining convergence in ATIC scores across assessment center (AC) exercises with very different demands. Participants (N?=?173) of a developmental AC completed 6 exercises and made ATIC judgments following the completion of each exercise. These judgments were used to create ATIC scores and to examine the consistency of these scores across exercises with similar and dissimilar demands. Results showed that ATIC scores converged across both similar and dissimilar exercises. Furthermore, participants who shifted their perceptions across dissimilar exercises the most were those who scored high in ATIC, whereas across similar exercises those who scored high in ATIC were those who evaluated the situations more similarly. Overall, ATIC demonstrated strong predictive ability, as it correlated with overall AC performance (r = .40) and predicted performance equally well across pairs of similar and dissimilar exercises.     

CROSS-CULTURAL STUDIES OF TEMPERAMENT: TEMPERAMENT IN GREEK INFANTS

Three infant cohorts from Greek cultural backgrounds were compared with an Anglo-Australian infant cohort across 9 dimensions of temperament using Australian and Greek versions of the revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (Carey and McDevitt 1978). Infants from a Greek cultural background were generally considered to be more ‘difficult’ than the Anglo-Australian infants on the temperament dimensions of Approach, Adaptability, Mood and Distractibility even after the effects of social class were controlled statistically. The reported cross-cultural differences were discussed with regard to the potential influence on temperament ratings of ethnicity and culture, social status, psychobiological factors, migrant status, social assimilation, and questionnaire characteristics.     

Development and validation of a brief form of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire

The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; A. Tellegen, 1982, in press) provides for a comprehensive analysis of personality at both the lower order trait and broader structural levels. Its higher order dimensions of Positive Emotionality, Negative Emotionality, and Constraint embody affect and temperament constructs, which have been conceptualized in psychobiological terms. The MPQ thus holds considerable potential as a structural framework for investigating personality across varying levels of analysis, and this potential would be enhanced by the availability of an abbreviated version. This article describes efforts to develop and validate a brief (155-item) form, the MPQ-BF. Success was evidenced by uniformly high correlations between the brief- and full-form trait scales and consistency of higher order structures. The MPQ-BF is recommended as a tool for investigating the genetic, neurobiological, and psychological substrates of personality.     

Cross-situational consistency of affective experiences across cultures

This study examined cross-situational consistency of affective experiences using an experience-sampling method in Japan, India, and the United States. Participants recorded their moods and situations when signaled at random moments for 7 days. The authors examined relative (interindividual) consistency and absolute (within-person) consistency. They found stable interindividual differences of affective experiences across various situations (mean r =.52 for positive affect.51 for negative affect) and cultural invariance of the cross-situational consistency of affective experiences. Simultaneously, the authors found a considerable degree of within-person cross-situational variation in affective experiences, and cultural differences in within-person cross-situational consistency. Thus, global affective traits exist among non-Western samples, but the degree to which situations exert an influence on the absolute level of affective experience varies across cultures.     

Broadening the concept of temperament: From disposition to hypothetical construct

This article discusses the personological vs. relational approach to temperament. The first approach, which views temperament as a relatively permanent and cross-situationally consistent disposition, is dominant. The present article presents arguments in favour of broadening the concept of temperament. This newly broadened concept will also include relatively stable determinants of behaviour dynamics specific to certain classes of situations. Moreover, temperament is defined as an element of the system of stimulation regulation. Temperament is viewed as a hypothetical construct. The surplus meaning characteristic of such hypothetical constructs is associated in this case with optimum stimulation as a regulatory standard, and with properties of the system of stimulation regulation. It is also connected with the open question of the degree of differentiation of temperament dimensions.     

A longitudinal study of temperament in infancy: stability and convergence of measures

This study analyzed the stability of individual differences in temperament and the convergence between two kinds of measures used to assess temperament: maternal report (IBQ and TBAQ), and laboratory measures. Sixty children were assessed at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age and their mothers' reports were collected at the same time. Mothers' perceptions of their children's temperament showed high stability across the range of children's ages. In laboratory, however, moderate stability was found only for the period between 9 and 12 months. Convergence between laboratory and maternal report measures was found at 6 and 12 months. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: a quantitative review of longitudinal studies

The present study used meta-analytic techniques to test whether trait consistency maximizes and stabilizes at a specific period in the life course. From 152 longitudinal studies, 3,217 test-retest correlation coefficients were compiled. Meta-analytic estimates of mean population test-retest correlation coefficients showed that trait consistency increased from .31 in childhood to .54 during the college years, to .64 at age 30, and then reached a plateau around .74 between ages 50 and 70 when time interval was held constant at 6.7 years. Analysis of moderators of consistency showed that the longitudinal time interval had a negative relation to trait consistency and that temperament dimensions were less consistent than adult personality traits.     

Consistency of social anxiety in psychiatric patients: Properties of persons,situations, response classes,and types of data

The focus of this study was to investigate the consistency of observed overt behaviors, psychophysiological measures, and reported cognitions in high and low socially anxious psychiatric patients. Forty-seven psychiatric patients (25 high and 22 low socially anxious ones) were exposed to two situations: the initiation of a conversation and the refusal of a request. For both groups of subjects, consistency across situations (Situations) and trait indicators (Reactions) was highest for psychophysiological measures. Observed overt behaviors showed the lowest consistency across Situations and Reactions. Substantial evidence was found for the consistency of Persons x Situations and Persons x Reactions interactions. Moreover, high socially anxious subjects showed a higher consistency than low socially anxious patients with respect to observed overt behaviors and reported cognitions. Using psychophysiological measures, low socially anxious patients showed higher consistency than high socially anxious subjects. The implications for the assessment of social anxiety are discussed.     

Night and day: are siblings as different in temperament as parents say they are?

Twin studies suggest that parent ratings of temperament exaggerate differences between twins. The present study examined whether such contrast effects also operate for nontwin siblings. The activity level (AL) and shyness of 95 nontwin sibling pairs (ages 3 to 8 years) were assessed via parent ratings and objective measures (actigraph and observer ratings). Siblings showed no resemblance in either parent-rated AL or shyness; however, sibling resemblance for actigraph AL and observer-rated shyness was substantial. Thus, parents do contrast their nontwin siblings when rating these 2 temperament dimensions. Moreover, the importance of sibling differences in temperament to the sibling relationship and differential maternal treatment varied across the different measures of AL and shyness, suggesting that parent perceptions may play a role in these associations.     

Happy Temperament? Four Types of Stimulation Control Linked to Four Types of Subjective Well-Being

In this person-oriented study 722 adolescents and adults filled out formal characteristics of behaviour—temperament inventory, satisfaction with life scale and positive and negative affect schedule. Using k-means clustering we assigned them to four subjective well-being (SWB) types: (1) achievers—high satisfaction, positive affective balance; (2) aspirers—low satisfaction, positive affective balance; (3) resigners—high satisfaction, negative affective balance; (4) frustrated—low satisfaction, negative affective balance; and to four temperament types denoting patterns of stimulation control (1) sanguine: high stimulation processing capacity (SPC) and high stimulation supply (StS); (2) melancholic: low SPC, low StS; (3) phlegmatic: high SPC, low StS; (4) choleric: low SPC, high StS. We compared stimulation control dimensions between SWB types and compared counts of SWB types across four profiles of temperament. SPC and StS were highest among achievers and lowest among the Frustrated, with aspirers and resigners in between. We found a clear correspondence between well-being structures and temperament types (a) the most common temperament among achievers was the sanguine, suggesting that this is the ‘happy temperament’, (b) among the Frustrated it was the melancholic (the ‘unhappy temperament’), (c) among resigners it was the choleric, suggesting that this ‘overstimulated temperament’ results in high satisfaction at the cost of lower affective balance, (d) among aspirers it was the Phlegmatic, suggesting that ‘understimulated temperament’, results in a good affective balance but lower satisfaction. Configurations of temperament dimensions within individuals affect the whole structure of SWB and can explain incongruence between cognitive and affective components of SWB.     

Behavioral change and consistency across contexts

The degree to which behavior changes across situations is often conflated with the cross-situational consistency of individual differences. The current study assesses the extent of behavioral change and consistency, the relationship between them, and variables associated with behaviors’ differing patterns of change and consistency. Two hundred fifty-six participants were observed in three different, three-person interactions. In line with previous research, behaviors showed a great deal of both change and consistency. Behavioral change across situations was unrelated to the degree to which individual differences in these same behaviors were maintained, demonstrating that behavioral consistency does not imply lack of situational adaptation. Behaviors rated as relatively broad and as relatively automatic showed more consistency; behaviors rated as relatively controlled showed more change.     

The more the better – But more of which? Information quantity and shared meaning as predictors of consistency and accuracy in person judgment

This study investigates the consistency and accuracy of person judgments at zero acquaintance in two conditions: Targets were judged repeatedly across a sequence of videotaped situations, either (a) by different observers in each situation, or (b) by the same observer in all situations. Replicating previous research, accuracy increased (inversely accelerated) when including additional situations rated by different observers. However, much of this increase was owed to improved inter-rater reliability (a confound in previous research). Also, cross-situational consistency of judgments was much higher when all ratings came from the same observer. These results underscore the crucial influence of shared meaning on judgment accuracy and consistency.