The Role Maturity of Parents of Emerging Adult Children: Validity of a Parental Maturity Measure

Parental maturity refers to parents’ ability to see their child as an independent adult with limitations and needs, and relate to him/her accordingly. In this study, we had two main aims: (a) develop a measure of parental maturity and test its construct validity in a sample of middle-aged parents with an emerging adult child, and (b) examine how the dimensions of parental maturity varied with a child’s gender and life course transitions (i.e., employment and leaving the parental home). A sample of 343 Portuguese parents (187 mothers and 156 fathers) aged 40–68 participated in this study. Factorial validity of the Parental Maturity Measure was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and measurement invariance across mothers and fathers. Results gave support for a two-factor measure—Comprehending (6 items) and Letting Go (4 items)—with an equivalent meaning across parents. Dimensions of parental maturity were associated with differentiated and positive parent–child relationship qualities, but were quite independent of the child’s gender and life course transitions.     

Criterion Validity of a Coping Measure

A paucity of evidence for the validity of coping questionnaires prompted investigation of the Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI; Amirkhan, 1990), a self-report measure of three fundamental modes of coping that has already demonstrated considerable psychometric strength. Three tests of criterion-related validity were performed, with variations in both the types of stressors and respondents sampled. In the first, CSI scores were found to correspond to coping choices made under the threat of electric shock in a laboratory. In the second and third, the CSI correctly identified coping patterns associated with participation in educational and therapeutic programs in more natural settings. Results confirmed the validity and wide applicability of the CSI and suggested avenues for future basic and applied research.     

Factor Analytic Structure and Validity of the Parental Feelings Inventory: A Brief Report

Previous research has highlighted the important role of parental emotions in parent–child interactions and child development. The present study presents the Parental Feelings Inventory (PFI), a new rating scale designed to assess parental emotions within the parenting role. The PFI presents emotion adjectives and asks parents to indicate the degree to which they experience that emotion in their role as parents. This study investigates the factor analytic structure and psychometric properties of this scale in a sample of parents with 3-year-old children. Participants included 149 mothers and 107 fathers of preschool-age children. The results provide support for a three-factor solution (Angry, Happy, and Anxious/Sad). This scale demonstrated good reliability and correlated with other measures of parent and child functioning. These findings provide support for the overall utility of the PFI as a measure of emotional experiences in the parenting role.     

Concurrent and Predictive Validity of Reading Retell as a Brief Measure of Reading Comprehension for Narrative Text

Concurrent and predictive validity between the Retell Reading Rubric (RRR), Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), an adaptation of the DIBELS Retell Fluency (RTF-A), and a state assessment emphasizing reading comprehension were examined across students in grades 3 and 5. Results showed the RRR to have moderate and statistically significant relationships to the ORF, RTF-A, and the state assessment for grade 3, but weaker relationships for grade 5. For grade 3, the RRR accounted for a small significant proportion of variance beyond ORF in predicting outcomes on the state assessment for third grade, but no statistically significant contribution for grade 5.     

Reliability and Validity of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality Among Adolescents

Background Developed for use in health research, the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) consists of brief measures of a broad range of religiousness and spirituality (R/S) dimensions. It has established psychometric properties among adults, but little is known about its appropriateness for use with adolescents. Purpose We assessed the psychometric properties of the BMMRS among adolescents. Method We recruited a racially diverse (85% non-White) sample of 305 adolescents aged 12–18 years (median 16 yrs, IQR 14–17) from 3 urban medical clinics; 93 completed a retest 1 week later. We assessed internal consistency and test–retest reliability. We assessed construct validity by examining how well the measures discriminated groups expected to differ based on self-reported religious preference, and how they related to a hypothesized correlate, depressive symptoms. Religious preference was categorized into “No religion/Atheist” (11%), “Don’t know/Confused” (9%), or “Named a religion” (80%). Results Responses to multi-item measures were generally internally consistent (alpha ≥0.70 for 12/16 measures) and stable over 1 week (intraclass correlation coefficients ≥0.70 for 14/16). Forgiveness, Negative R/S Coping, and Commitment items showed lower internal cohesiveness. Scores on most measures were higher (p < 0.05) among those who “Named a religion” compared to the “No religion/Atheist” group. Forgiveness, Commitment, and Anticipated Support from members of one’s congregation were inversely correlated with depressive symptoms, while BMMRS measures assessing negative R/S experiences (Negative R/S Coping, Negative Interactions with others in congregation, Loss in Faith) were positively correlated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions These findings suggest that most BMMRS measures are reliable and valid for use among adolescents.

Internal Validity Studies of a Telephone Preemployment Measure

In this article, the authors present data on the validity and reliability of a new form of employee honesty testing: The Integrity Interview. Advantages of this form of employee honesty testing over other forms are discussed.     

Parental Psychopathology Levels as a Moderator of Temperament and Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptoms in Preschoolers

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is among the most prevalent disorders in preschoolers. It has been linked to temperament, since characteristics such as elevated surgency and negative affect, as well as low levels of effortful control, contribute to the development of this disorder. Evidence also indicates that parental psychopathology can accentuate temperamental traits. Our aim was to assess whether the levels of psychopathology of mothers and fathers acts as a moderator of the relationship between temperament and ODD symptoms in preschoolers, both cross-sectionally at ages 3, 4 and 5, and longitudinally between ages 3 and 5. The sample included 550 children evaluated at ages 3, 4 and 5 through questionnaires and a semi-structured diagnostic interview with parents. Parents also answered a questionnaire about their own psychopathology. The results indicated that negative affect and effortful control are associated with higher levels of ODD symptoms in preschoolers. At child age 5, higher levels of paternal depression and anxiety increased the effect of low effortful control on ODD. High levels of negative affect and low levels of effortful control at age 3 were statistical predictors of ODD levels at age 5, and this relationship was also moderated by paternal anxiety and depression. The results have important clinical implications for the proper orientation of interventions, suggesting that interventions should integrate the paternal caregiver in the treatment.     

Development and Validation of a Brief Self-Report Measure of Agitation: The Brief Agitation Measure

Emerging evidence indicates that agitation is an ominous precursor to imminent death by suicide, yet measures of it are few, and to our knowledge, no self-report measure of agitation exists. To fill this gap, we have developed the Brief Agitation Measure (BAM), which is designed as a brief measure to assess agitation. In this article, we provide preliminary evidence from 2 studies examining the reliability and validity of the BAM in an undergraduate sample as well as a clinical sample. We close with a discussion of the limitations of the studies and implications of our findings.     

The Apartment Test: Validity of a Memory Measure

ABSTRACT

The Memory in Reality (MIR) test, or Apartment Test, was designed as an ecologically valid alternative to word list recall measures. Participants name 10 everyday objects, place them in a scale model of an apartment and after a delay with interference, recall the objects and their placement. Two studies are reported. Study 1 included 51 older adult volunteers. Study 2 was a population-based sample of 633 older twins. The Apartment Test Recall and Placement tasks were highly correlated with word list delayed recall. Ecological validity was supported by correlations with informant reports of participants' functioning. Apartment Test Recall was not affected by education. Analysis of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) showed Apartment Test Recall performed as well as word list delayed recall in distinguishing participants with and without dementia. We conclude that the Apartment Test is a valid measure of verbal memory with evidence of ecological and concurrent validity.     

Free Associations as a Measure of Stable Implicit Attitudes

Two studies explored the psychometric properties of free association methods for the assessment of attitudes. Even though the stability of the actual associations was rather low, psychometric properties of the valence estimates of the free associations were highly satisfactory. Valence estimates of associations were provided by independent judges who rated the valence of the associations that were generated by participants. Valence estimates of the associations showed satisfactory internal consistencies and retest reliabilities over three weeks. Additionally, valence estimates of the associations were significantly and independently related to both explicit self‐reported attitudes and implicit attitudes that were assessed with an Ossi–Wessi Implicit Association Test. Free association methods represent a useful complement to the family of implicit measures and are especially suitable for the assessment of non‐relative attitudes towards single attitude objects. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structure and Validity of Affect Knowledge Test (AKT) in a Sample of Italian Preschoolers

The authors’ main goals were to examine whether the Affect Knowledge Test's (AKT) factor structure would be represented by a two-factor model (i.e., emotion recognition and situation knowledge) or by a one-factor model in Italian preschoolers (N = 164; M = 4.24 years, SD = 1.09 years). The concurrent validity of the AKT was further examined using measures of social competence. The findings replicated a model of emotion knowledge, with emotion recognition and situation knowledge as distinct but interrelated factors. Gender and age differences showed that older children and girls displayed higher scores in situation knowledge than younger children and boys. Additionally, our validity model of the AKT demonstrated that emotion recognition preceded situation knowledge, which in turn was positively related to children's sensitive or cooperative behaviors and negatively associated with anxious or withdrawn behaviors. Our results suggest that the use of the AKT may help the teachers to evaluate children's level on emotional knowledge that in turn might impact on children's positive social relationships within classroom in Italy.     

A Measure of Intensity of Parental Punishment

To test the possibilities that antecedents and consequents of certain levels of intensity of punishment may have far-reaching effects on behavior, a self-report measure of parental intensity of punishment was developed. Consisting of 33 different situations to which parents react, scores from the instrument were found to be reliable over time. Further construct validity was demonstrated with a variety of predicted relationships between punishment intensity and parent and child characteristics. Five samples of subjects were used with over 400 families, high intensity of punishment scores were found to be related to mothers' lack of warmth and to her intrusiveness when playing with her child; children's maladjusted behavior; aggression and impulsivity in boys; withdrawal and inhibition in girls; and uncooperativeness. Inconsistency of parental punishment also was associated with maladjustment. Results Were discussed in terms of Rotter's social learning theory.     

Development of a Measure of Stereotypical Attitudes towards Older Workers

Prolonging the working life of older adults has been suggested by various researchers and policymakers as a strategy to alleviate challenges posed by the inevitable ageing of the population. It is thus important to have measures with which to assess and monitor factors relevant to older adults' employment. Research indicates that negative attitudes towards older workers are at the heart of employment discrimination; hence, the current research developed and assessed a new measure of attitudes towards older workers. A questionnaire asking about older workers was prepared in three versions (male, female, and gender neutral). Each version of the Attitudes towards Older Workers Scale (AOWS) was pilot tested, refined, and field tested with random samples totalling 246 hiring decision‐makers and 219 undergraduate students. Internal consistency ranged between .89 and .95 across the samples and questionnaire versions. Test–retest reliability correlations for male, female, and gender‐neutral versions were .83, .78, and .90, respectively. The AOWS will be a valuable tool for research, development of interventions, and for informing policy formulation in the areas of ageing, retirement, and employment.     

Emotional Expressiveness during Peer Conflicts: A Predictor of Social Maladjustment among High-Risk Preschoolers

Preschool boys' emotional displays during conflicts with mixed-sex peers were related to individual differences in peer sociometric status and teacher ratings of disruptive behavior. Participants were 60 4- to 5-year old boys from low-income families who were videotaped with a small group of classmates in a Head Start preschool classroom. Conflicts were identified and emotional displays were coded from videotape. Results indicated that conflicts were more negative in emotional tone at the end than at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, children tended to mirror each others' emotional displays at the end but not the beginning of the preschool year. In addition, gleeful taunting, a form of emotional aggression, more strongly predicted negative peer nominations and teacher ratings than anger, suggesting that anger may be a more socially accepted form of emotional expression during conflicts among preschool-age children. Implications and directions for future research and interventions are discussed.     

The Validity of Defecation as a Measure of Emotionality in the Rat

The present study employed a free operant discrimination procedure in studying the effects of frontal ablations in rats. Two groups of Ss were trained on a multiple fixed ratio (FR) 3 extinction schedule, and then the experimental group received frontal lesions. Following recovery they were returned to the multiple schedule. It was found that for the experimental group there was a significant loss in discrimination following frontal lesions. These results support a study done by Weiskrantz and Mishkin (8).     

OECD's Brief Self-Report Measure of Educational Psychology's Most Useful Affective Constructs: Cross-Cultural,Psychometric Comparisons Across 25 Countries

Through a rigorous process of selecting educational psychology's most useful affective constructs, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) constructed the Students' Approaches to Learning (SAL) instrument, which requires only 10 min to measure 14 factors that assess self-regulated learning strategies, self-beliefs, motivation, and learning preferences. This study evaluated SAL responses from nationally representative samples of approximately 4,000 15-year-olds from each of 25 countries (N = 107,899)—OECD's Program For International Student Assessment database. In one of the largest and most powerful cross-cultural comparisons of diverse educational psychology constructs, this study used multiple group confirmatory factor analyses to show that SAL's a priori 14-factor solution is well defined and reasonably invariant across the 25 countries, as are relations between SAL factors and 4 criterion variables (gender, socioeconomic status, math achievement, and verbal achievement). The results support posited relations among constructs derived from different theoretical perspectives and their cross-cultural generalizability. The SAL provides a standard set of educational psychological measures that have been translated into many languages with nationally representative norms that have been validated across the world. These should be a useful focus or supplement in diverse educational psychology research settings, and should provide the longitude and latitude against which to map new and existing educational psychology constructs.     

The Validity of a New,Self-report Measure of Multiple Intelligence

In all, 187 participants completed a new, self-report measure of eight multiple intelligences (Haselbauer 2005), a General Knowledge test (Irwing et al. Personality and Individual Differences 30:857–871, 2001), a measure of Approaches to Learning Styles (Biggs 1987), a measure of the Big Five personality traits (Costa and McCrae 1992), as well as gave their own estimated scores on the Gardner (1999) multiple intelligences. Alpha co-efficients were modest with only three of the eight test-derived, multiple intelligence scores being over .70. ‘Linguistic’ and Mathematical intelligence alone were correlated with General Knowledge. Five of the eight ‘intelligences’ were correlated both with Extraversion and Openness. Regressions indicated that ‘Intrapersonal intelligence’ was closely linked with Stability and Conscientiousness; ‘Interpersonal intelligence’ with Extraversion; ‘Linguistic intelligence’ with Openness; ‘Mathematical intelligence’ with Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Correlations between self-estimated and test-derived emotional intelligence showed correlations ranging from r = .18 to r = .56 for similar type ‘intelligences’. This study provides modest evidence for the concurrent and construct validity of this measure. It requires more psychometric evidence of validity before it is used.     

Construct Validity of the Perceived Criticism Measure

The construct validity of the Perceived Criticism Measure (PCM) was examined in 2 studies. In Study 1, 50 community couples participated in problem-solving interactions after which they rated interaction-specific perceived criticism and their criticism of their spouses. In addition, they provided ratings of perceived criticism for their relationship overall and completed measures of psychopathology and marital satisfaction. For both husbands and wives, convergent validity was demonstrated by moderate-to-large correlations between the PCM and spouses' own ratings of their criticism for both general and interaction-specific perceived criticism. In Study 2, 37 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their spouses participated in problem-solving interactions and provided ratings of marital satisfaction and general perceived criticism. Five untrained coders rated the interactions according to their own definitions of the relatives' destructive criticism of the patient. Their aggregated ratings proved strongly related to patients' PCM scores. Higher PCM scores were related to lower marital satisfaction in both Studies 1 and 2. The results of these studies are supportive of the convergent validity of the Perceived Criticism Measure. Evidence of discriminant validity was mixed.