A psychometric study of the PRF ANDRO Scale

This study investigated the adequacy of the items in the PRF ANDRO Masculinity (M) and Femininity (F) Scales, in terms of the content themes specified by Berzins, Welling, and Wetter (1978), and empirically tested their appropriateness using Bem's (1974) criteria. Results indicated that the PRF ANDRO M and F scales contain a large proportion of items that are theoretically irrelvant and that did not satisfy Bem's criteria. In addition, these scales were found to contain several items with low content saturation. Implications of the results are discussed.     

A psychometric study of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales

The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES), a measure of family functioning, contains three scales: cohesion, adaptability, and social desirability. These were slightly modified (FACES- R) on the basis of pilot data and were administered to 42 clinic families (families seeking or receiving psychological services) and 206 nonclinic families. Support for the scales was found in high coefficient alpha reliabilities and similarity of the sample means and standard deviations to those of the standardization sample. However, there was little agreement among family members' scale scores. Therapists' ratings of cohesion and adaptability did not correlate with scale scores among clinic families. There was no difference between clinic and nonclinic samples on the cohesion or adaptability scales, although the social desirability scale did discriminate between groups. Factor analysis suggested that cohesion, adaptability, and social desirability cannot be clearly differentiated using this measure.This work was supported by the American Association of University Women and by Grant R01HD13820 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.     

A psychometric study of DSM-IV passive-aggressive (negativistic) personality disorder criteria

The passive-aggressive (negativistic) personality disorder (PAPD) is one of the most controversial personality disorders. In order to assess DSM-IV PAPD psychometric properties and comorbidity pattern in a mixed psychiatric sample, 379 consecutively admitted in- and outpatients were administered SCID-II, Version 2.0. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that DSM-IV PAPD is a unidimensional construct with adequate internal consistency (K-R 20 = .85). A strong, specific association (odds ratio = 10.38, 95% CI = 4.83-22.30) was observed between DSM-IV PAPD and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that DSM-IV PAPD should be considered as a subtype of a broader narcissistic disorder.     

Family therapy with problem drinkers and drug takers: A pilot follow-up study

We report a retrospective outcome study of 36 problem drinkers and/or drug takers, treated with structural-strategic family therapy. The interval between treatment and follow-up varied from six months to two years. Follow-up data was available on 34 cases. Twenty had a pure alcohol problem and of these 18 had a good outcome at follow up. Five had a mixed drug/alcohol problem; of these all were free from problem drinking and four had become abstinent from drugs at follow-up. Of the nine patients with a pure drug problems, eight were abstinent from drugs at follow-up. Given the retrospective nature of this study and the lack of control data, these results must remain impressionistic but the implications of the findings are discussed.     

Existential measurement: A factor analytic study of some current psychometric instruments

The foray of quantification research into the arena of existentialism and ontology has given rise to several psychometric instruments pertinent to the area. Both exploratory and Confirmatory principal-factor analyses were used to study the relationships among 16 existential scales currently in use in the research literature. Participants were 133 individuals comprised of 74 females and 59 males with a median age of approximately 30.5 years. Approximately one half of the sample was in attendance at the University of Regina and Saskatchewan during the 1976–1977 fall term, while the remainder was drawn from the respective communities. Confirmatory factor analysis supported both the prediction of substantial condensation of existential scales and the presence of an avoidance of ontological confrontation factor. Exploratory factor analysis provided some support of the theory that the avoidance of existential confrontation is a central function of neurosis. Extracted factors were interpreted and examined with respect to implications for existential-ontological theory and research.     

A psychometric study of positive and negative nominations and the pupil evaluation inventory

Two peer evaluation measures, the Pupil Evaluation Inventory (PEI) and positive and negative nominations were compared in a sample of 260 children in grades 1 to 5. Stabilities of the measures were assessed over a 4-month period. In the total sample, PEI factors and negative nominations were more stable than positive nominations, and PEI Aggression and Withdrawal scores were more stable than negative nominations. PEI Aggression and Withdrawal scores were more stable in grades 3 and 5 than in grade 1, and the Likability factor was more stable in grades 2 to 5 than in grade 1. Negative nominations were most strongly correlated with the PEI Aggression factor, and positive nominations were more strongly correlated with Likability than with Aggression. Implications for the use of these nomination measures are discussed.During the writing of this report Charlotte Johnston was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors wish to express appreciation to Dr. Edward Vertuno and to all the staff, teachers, and children of the Developmental Research School, Florida State University, whose cooperation made this research possible.     

A psychometric analysis of chess expertise

This study introduces the Amsterdam Chess Test (ACT). The ACT measures chess playing proficiency through 5 tasks: a choose-a-move task (comprising two parallel tests), a motivation questionnaire, a predict-a-move task, a verbal knowledge questionnaire, and a recall task. The validity of these tasks was established using external criteria based on the Elo chess rating system. Results from a representative sample of active chess players showed that the ACT is a very reliable test for chess expertise and that ACT has high predictive validity. Several hypotheses about the relationships between chess expertise, chess knowledge, motivation, and memory were tested. Incorporating response latencies in test scores is shown to lead to an increase in criterion validity, particularly for easy items.     

A psychometric study of stereotypes: assessment of malingering in a criminal forensic group

This research investigates the validity of the stereotype of insanity defendants as malingerers by analyzing the proportions of insanity defendants who exaggerate psychopathology at the pre- and postacquittal stages of the legal process and by assessing the severity of psychopathology among preacquittal defendants. We administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to 49 insanity defendants evaluated for fitness to stand trial and/or sanity at the time of the alleged crime and to 52 subjects previously found not guilty by reason of insanity. Results indicated: (a) Contrary to the stereotype, a minority (14% to 41%) of insanity defendants clearly malingered, whereas 22% to 39% showed evidence of minimizing psychopathology. (b) Eighty-one percent of these subjects had MMPI profiles suggestive of psychosis, but relatively few showed evidence of primarily antisocial behavior. Thus, the malingering stereotype may be application to only a minority of insanity defendants and is specifically inapplicable to a substantial proportion who minimized psychopathology or showed evidence of psychosis consistent with the claim of insanity.     

Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale: A psychometric study in a Portuguese sample

BackgroundThe Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS, Brazelton &; Nugent, 1995) is an instrument conceived to observe the neonatal neurobehavior. Data analysis is usually performed by organizing items into groups. The most widely used data reduction for the NBAS was developed by Lester, Als, and Brazelton (1982).ObjectiveExamine the psychometric properties of the NBAS items in a sample of 213 Portuguese infants.MethodThe NBAS was performed in the first week of infant life (3 days ± 2) and in the seventh week of life (52 days ± 5).ResultsPrincipal component analyses yielded a solution of four components explaining 55.13% of total variance. Construct validity was supported by better neurobehavioral performance of 7-week-old infants compared with 1-week-old infants.ConclusionChanges in the NBAS structure for the Portuguese sample are suggested compared to Lester factors in order to reach better internal consistency of the scale.     

A psychometric study of the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test-Extended in a Norwegian sample

Motivation is a widely used concept in substance use treatment, and is commonly seen as a premise for change during treatment. Different measures of motivation have been suggested. A relatively new instrument is the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test-Extended (DUDIT-E), developed in Sweden. This instrument has recently been introduced in Norway. The present study examined the Motivational Index of the Norwegian version of the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test-Extended (DUDIT-E). We tested whether the three-factor model ("Positive aspects of substance abuse"; "Negative aspects of substance abuse"; and "Treatment readiness") suggested by previous studies could be replicated in a sample of Norwegian inpatients. Responses to the DUDIT-E were obtained from 105 patients admitted to inpatient substance abuse treatment in Northern Norway. Exploratory common factor analyses were used to compare the factor structure from the current sample with the Swedish sample of mainly detoxification patients and prison inmates. The current sample did not include prison inmates, and it consisted of more women than the Swedish sample. The samples did not differ according to age or substance dependency. The analyses suggested that six primary factors was the most efficient way of combining the item scores, and not 11 as in the Swedish sample. A second-order factor analysis found best support for a two-factor solution, and hence, did not replicate the previously suggested three-factor model either. Several regression analyses comparing the efficiency of the different ways of combining the DUDIT scores in primary or secondary factor scores indicated that the model involving six sum scores had best merit and should be explored further.     

A test for psychometric function shift

A nonparametric, small-sample-size test for the homogeneity of two psychometric functions against the left- and right-shift alternatives has been developed. The test is designed to determine whether it is safe to amalgamate psychometric functions obtained in different experimental sessions. The sum of the lower and upper p-values of the exact (conditional) Fisher test for several 2 × 2 contingency tables (one for each point of the psychometric function) is employed as the test statistic. The probability distribution of the statistic under the null (homogeneity) hypothesis is evaluated to obtain corresponding p-values. Power functions of the test have been computed by randomly generating samples from Weibull psychometric functions. The test is free of any assumptions about the shape of the psychometric function; it requires only that all observations are statistically independent.     

A psychometric approach to intuitive physics

The literature on intuitive physics shows that many people exhibit systematic errors when predicting the behavior of simple physical events. Most previous research has attributed these errors to factors specific to a certain class of tasks. In the present study, we investigated the possibility that intuitive physics performance may be related to general measures of cognitive ability. Two hundred four adults (ages, 20-91 years) were presented with five pairs of intuitive physics questions. It was found that performance on the intuitive physics items was moderately intercorrelated, suggesting that they were tapping into a unitary construct. Despite the correlation with factors that decline with advancing age, intuitive physics performance was not correlated with age (r= .00). The findings are discussed in the context of research on intuitive physics, as well as research on cognitive aging.     

A psychometric investigation of Eysenck's personality inventory

Eysenck's personality inventory (EPI) was administered to 653 females and 666 males. Item analyses were carried out for the subsamples and the combined sample. In addition hierarchical oblique factor analysis was applied to the data. The purpose of both item and factor analysis was to examine the psychometric properties of the EPI in regard to (a) the homogeneity of the scales, in terms both of internal and external item-scale relationships (b) the univocality of the scales assessed in factor analytic terms. It was found that the neuroticism scale was superior to the extraversion scale in both these respects.     

A psychometric comparison of anxiety-relevant attention measures

Background and Objectives: Preferential attention to threat, emotional response inhibition, and attentional control each purportedly play a key role in anxiety disorders. Divergent psychometric properties among attention measures may produce differential detection of anxiety-related associations and treatment-related changes. However, no studies have directly compared the psychometric properties of these attention measures in the same sample.

Design: Eighty-five young adults (M?=?19.41 years, SD?=?1.47, 48 Females) completed a cognitive task battery and a subset of 60 participants (M?=?19.42 years, SD?=?1.48, 33 Females) completed the task battery again approximately two weeks later.

Method: To assess preferential attention to threat, emotional response inhibition, and attentional control, the cognitive task battery included a dot-probe task, emotion and gender Stroop tasks, and a flanker task. Tasks varied in how attention was directed and if emotional stimuli were included. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were compared across measures.

Results: Within the same sample, internal consistency and reliability differed across attention measures. Explicit attention measures (emotional Stroop and flanker) exhibited stronger internal consistency and greater test-retest reliability compared to implicit measures (dot-probe and gender Stroop).

Conclusions: These results inform clinical research using attention measures to assess anxiety-related differences and treatment response.     

A psychometric analysis of five DSM-III categories

Preliminary studies of interdiagnostician agreement have shown that the DSM-III holds promise for improving diagnostic reliability. This study examined the characteristics of five DSM-III diagnostic categories (schizophrenia, mania and schizotypal, narcissistic and borderline personality disorders) with respect to three psychometric criteria. Examined were the specificity, syndrome association and internal consistency of the diagnostic criteria for these disorders. Results suggested that of the diagnostic categories examined, the criteria for schizophrenia performed best under empirical scrutiny, while criteria for borderline and narcissistic personality disorders were more problematic. Suggestions are made for subsequent investigations into the internal validity of DSM-III.     

Quest: A Bayesian adaptive psychometric method

An adaptive psychometric procedure that places each trial at the current most probable Bayesian estimate of threshold is described. The procedure takes advantage of the common finding that the human psychometric function is invariant in form when expressed as a function of log intensity. The procedure is simple, fast, and efficient, and may be easily implemented on any computer.