Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale: Two Studies of Convergent Validity

As the field of mental health services shifts its focus to early intervention, the need to develop valid and reliable measures of young children's behavioral functioning is clear. Traditional assessment instruments have focused on deficits, problems, and pathologies to the exclusion of strengths and competencies. However, assessing child strengths provides parents, direct service providers, and educators with a more holistic view of the child's functioning and an understanding of skills from which individualized treatment and education plans may be written. The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS; Epstein & Sharma, 1998) is a strength-based instrument designed to identify children's behavioral and emotional strengths. The psychometrics of the BERS has been demonstrated through several studies; however, the focus has mainly been on older age students. We sought to assess the convergent validity of the BERS with kindergarten children. The results of these two studies provide further support of the psychometric characteristics of the BERS and indicate its appropriateness with young children.     

A Meta-Analysis of the Convergent Validity of Self-Control Measures

There is extraordinary diversity in how the construct of self-control is operationalized in research studies. We meta-analytically examined evidence of convergent validity among executive function, delay of gratification, and self- and informant-report questionnaire measures of self-control. Overall, measures demonstrated moderate convergence (r_random = .27 [95% CI = .24, .30]; r_fixed = .34 [.33, .35], k = 282 samples, N = 33,564 participants), although there was substantial heterogeneity in the observed correlations. Correlations within and across types of self-control measures were strongest for informant-report questionnaires and weakest for executive function tasks. Questionnaires assessing sensation seeking impulses could be distinguished from questionnaires assessing processes of impulse regulation. We conclude that self-control is a coherent but multidimensional construct best assessed using multiple methods.     

The Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Chapman Scales

Our study investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of five of Chapman's Schizotypia Scales (i.e., Physical Anhedonia, Revised Social Anhedonia, Perceptual Aberration, Magical Ideation, and Impulsive Nonconformity; L. J. Chapman, J. P. Chapman, & Raulin, 1976, 1978; Eckblad & L. J. Chapman, 1983) and Meehl's Schizoidia Scale (Meehl, 1964) within a sample of 50 personality disordered subjects, many of whim possessed schizotypic traits. It was hypothesized in part that all five of the Chapman scales and the Schizoidia Scale would correlate with the schizotypal personality disorder; the Physical Anhedonia and Revised Social Anhedonia Scales would correlate with the schizoid personality disorder, whereas the Magical Ideation and Perceptual Aberration Scales would not; the Physical and Revised Social Anhedonia Scales would not correlate with the avoidant personality disorder; and the Impulsive Nonconformity Scale would correlate with the borderline and antisocial personality disorders. Only the hypotheses concerning the avoidant personality disorder and the Schizoidia Scale were not supported. The findings remained even when the effects of state anxiety and state depression were controlled. Implications of the findings with respect to the validity of the Chapman and Schizoidia Scales and the personality disorders are discussed.     

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Five Interest Inventories

This study investigated whether interest inventories that purport to measure the same constructs actually yield scores that correspond. The study examined the empirical relation of scores for similarly and same-named scales on five widely used interest inventories: the Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey-Form DD, the Self-Directed Search, the Strong Interest Inventory-Skills Confidence Edition, and the Revised Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory. Comparisons were made among scores for (a) vocational interests measured by homogeneous, rationally based scales; (b) occupational interests measured by heterogeneous, criterion-based scales; and (c) self-efficacy for RIASEC tasks. The participants consisted of 80 women and 38 men employed as career counseling practitioners and professors. Results from analyses of multitrait-multimethod matrices indicated that similarly and same-named scales correlated moderately and that, with few exceptions, these matched scales demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity. These conclusions were interpreted by distinguishing between the linguistic explication and operational definition of constructs in theories of vocational and occupational interests. The implications of these interpretations were considered for both the science of vocational psychology and the practice of career counseling. Future research should investigate both the profile validity and the interpretive validity of interest inventories that yield scale scores derived from different scaling strategies.     

The Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Need for Cognition Scale

This article reports two studies that examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). Using samples of college students and prison inmates, need for cognition scores were found to be positively associated with measures of self-esteem, masculine sex role attitudes, absorption, and private self-consciousness. Modest negative associations between need for cognition and measures of public self-consciousness and social anxiety were also uncovered. Need for cognition scores were generally unrelated to measures of feminine and androgynous sex role attitudes, shyness, sociability, and loneliness. These findings add further evidence supporting the construct validity of the Need for Cognition Scale and expand our understanding of the construct of need for cognition.     

Validity of the Threat Index.

The validity of the Threat Index was examined in a study of 42 students and 15 HIV+ clients. When completing the Threat Index, subjects rate the self and death on 30 bipolar adjectives. A count is made of the number of times the same adjective poles are used to describe the self and death. Uses of the same poles are called matches, while uses of different poles are called splits. The Threat Index is based on the assumption that splits indicate threat. Analysis showed that neither splits nor matches were usually threatening and that neither was necessary or sufficient for the experience of threat. These results did not support the validity of the Threat Index.     

Convergent Validity of the Defense Mechanisms Manual and the Defensive Functioning Scale

This report, describing a peculiar reaction of two psychiatric patients to the Rorschach test, tries to relate this phenomenon to some other Rorschach phenomena, already known and previously described.     

Factorial and Diagnostic Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in Croatian Primary Health Care

The aim of this study was to examine the factorial and diagnostic validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) in Croatian primary health care. Data were collected using a medical outpatient sample (N = 314). Reliability measured by internal consistency proved to be high. While the Velicer MAP Test showed that extraction of only one factor is satisfactory, confirmatory factor analysis indicated the best fit for a 3-factor structure model consisting of cognitive, affective and somatic dimensions. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis demonstrated the BDI-II to have a satisfactory diagnostic validity in differentiating between healthy and depressed individuals in this setting. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were high with an optimal cut-off score of 15/16. The implications of these findings are discussed regarding the use of the BDI-II as a screening instrument in primary health care settings.     

Early Identification and Intervention for Behavior Problems in Primary Care: A Comparison of Two Abbreviated Versions of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

Behavioral screening and preventive intervention were implemented for 3- to 6-year-olds in pediatric primary care with subclinical behavior problems. One hundred eleven children were screened with the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory. Thirty children who scored within one standard deviation of the normative mean whose mothers indicated wanting help for their child's behavior were randomized to one of two abbreviated versions of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for use in pediatric primary care: (a) a 4-session group preventive intervention called Primary Care PCIT (PC-PCIT); or (b) written materials describing basic steps of PCIT and guidelines for practice, called PCIT Anticipatory Guidance (PCIT-AG). Decreases in child problem behaviors and ineffective parenting strategies, and increases in parental feelings of control were not significantly different between versions at post-intervention or 6-month follow-up. Changes during intervention were significantly larger for both groups than changes during pretreatment baseline, with moderate to large effect sizes. These brief versions of PCIT are both promising primary care preventive interventions that deserve further study.     

Construct Validity of the Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale: Factor Structure,Convergent and Discriminant Validity

The Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale (ACSS) assesses one of three main constructs in the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide but evidence of its validity is limited. In two studies (Ns = 287 and 738) validity of the full 20-item ACSS and its shorter versions (ACSS-5, ACSS-8, ACSS-FAD) were examined in terms of factor structure and relation to indices of self-reported suicidal behaviour and self-harm. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) failed to show good fit for one-, two-, or three-factor models of the ACSS in its various versions. Exploratory factor analysis of the 20-item scale in the first study pointed instead to a five-factor structure and this was supported using CFA in the second study. In both studies all scale versions showed moderate negative correlations to fear of death and dying, indicating scale validity for the purpose of assessing fearlessness about death. In the second study, a model in which the five factors were indicators of a latent variable of Capability was found to predict a latent variable of Suicidality as indicated by suicidal behaviours, but the prediction was substantially enhanced by the addition of Item 20 to the model. This single item was also found in the first study to better predict suicidal and self-harming behaviour than the full ACSS or any of its short versions.     

An Analysis of the Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire

This article sets out to provide evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of a recently developed leadership questionnaire to support the assessment and development of leadership in organizations, the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ). The TLQ was developed on the basis of eliciting constructs of leadership from managers working at different levels (executive, top, senior, middle) in two large parts of the UK public sector, using a Grounded Theory approach. Evidence is presented that eight scales which measure different aspects of transformational leadership are significantly correlated with each of five criterion variables, even when the instrument is used in a public sector different from the one in which it was developed. Discriminant analysis indicated, however, that the relationship between the scales and the criterion variables is not consistent for the different groups and sub-groups of managers, divided by level, by sex, and by level x sex. These latter data were interpreted, in the light of the ‘range of convenience’ corollary of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory, and of the concept of ‘substitutes for leadership’, as evidence that certain TLQ scales have particular relevance to certain groups and sub-groups of managers, and thus of the discriminant validity of the instrument, and further evidence of its construct validity.     

Validity of the Sheltered Care Environment Scale

The Sheltered Care Environment Scale (SCES) and a parallel open-ended interview were administered to 25 residents of a geriatric long-term-care facility. A multitrait-multimethod validity matrix was generated and contained intercorrelations among the 7 subscales of the SCES and interview ratings. Evidence of construct validity was strong for the subscales of conflict, resident influence, and self-exploration; moderate for organization; and lacking for cohesion, independence, and physical comfort. The lack of validity for these 3 subscales was revealed by a content analysis of interview responses. Items in these subscales do not sufficiently encompass major aspects of the environmental dimensions they are purported to measure.     

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of FACES-III: Family Adaptability and Cohesion

Research on earlier versions of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES) has ostensibly shown that the scales lack discriminant and convergent validity (23). However, these studies have defined convergence as agreement between family members or as agreement between family members and family therapists. Such definitions confound real differences between respondents' perceptions of the family with the notion of convergent validity. In the current study, we take a different approach to construct validity. Multiple measures of family adaptability, cohesion, and talkativeness were administered to two family members (insiders) and two significant others (outsiders). The two insiders' responses were averaged together, as were the two outsiders' responses. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we demonstrated that family adaptability, cohesion, and talkativeness are distinct traits, and that the different sources of information about these traits, including FACES-III (24), have convergent validity.     

Extending the Validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory's (PAI) Level of Care Index (LOCI) in Multiple Psychiatric Settings

The purpose of this study was to extend the validity and clinical application of the Level of Care Index (LOCI) from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in 2 independent psychiatric samples. In Study 1 (N = 201), the LOCI effectively differentiated level of care (inpatients from outpatients), and was also meaningfully associated with risk factors for psychiatric admission (e.g., suicidal ideation, self-harming behavior, previous psychiatric admission, etc.), even after controlling for other demographic variables (range of Cohen's ds = 0.57–1.00). Likewise, the LOCI also incremented other risk indicators (suicide and violence history) and relevant PAI indexes (i.e., Mean Clinical Elevation, and Suicide and Violence Potential) in predicting level of care, and explained an additional 6% to 12% of variance in the target variable. Diagnostic efficiency analyses indicated LOCI scores in the range of 15 to 18 optimize positive and negative predictive power, and classification rate. In Study 2 (N = 96), the LOCI was found to be significantly higher in those with a recent psychiatric admission within the past 6 months (d = 0.64), as compared to those without an admission. Similarly, those who were admitted for suicide risk had significantly higher mean LOCI scores as compared to those who did not (d = 0.70). The clinical implications of these findings and potential application of the LOCI are discussed.     

Memory for the Events of Early Childhood

There has been much recent interest in the phenomenon of childhood amnesia, the difficulty most adults have in recalling at least the first 3 years of life. In contrast, it has been shown that infants 18 months of age or less can retain information over long periods. Although there is no agreed-upon explanation of this paradoxical phenomenon, there are proposed biological, cognitive, and social-cognitive explanations. Distinguishing among these accounts involves investigating both adults' memories for childhood events and the mnemonicabilities of young children. These studies may not only reveal the reason why our earliest years are shrouded from us as adults, but also shed light on the memory processes that allow us a rich representation of the remainder of our personal past.     

Criterion Validity of the Rorschach Developmental Index With Children

The Rorschach Developmental Index (DI) is a composite measure of psychological development. The aim of this study was to examine the criterion validity of the DI by investigating its relationship with age, nonverbal intelligence, and the impact of institutionalization in a sample of Brazilian children. The sample included 231 children, ages 7 to 11, who were either living with their families or in an institutionalized setting. The results indicated that the DI is strongly associated with nonverbal intelligence. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 71% of the variability in the DI was associated with nonverbal intelligence, whereas age explained only 2%. Moreover, the DI scores and nonverbal intelligence scores were significantly lower for children living in institutionalized settings. The DI appears to be effective in assessing various levels of psychological development, especially when expressed in cognitive ability. The DI was developed in the United States, and this study suggests that the DI can be adapted to diverse cultures, regions, or languages.