Decisional balance measure for assessing and predicting smoking status

The Decisional Balance Sheet of Incentives has been proposed by Janis and Mann (1977) as a general schema for representing both the cognitive and motivational aspects of human decision making. In this study, a brief 24-item paper and pencil measure was constructed to study the decision-making process in smoking cessation. Two scales were identified and labeled the Pros of Smoking and the Cons of Smoking. These scales were successful in differentiating between five groups representing stages of change in the quitting process. The two scales were also successful when employed as predictors of smoking status at a 6-month follow-up. The Decisional Balance Scale appears to be a powerful construct of potentially wide application in behavior change.     

The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope

Defining hope as a cognitive set that is composed of a reciprocally derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed determination) and (b) pathways (planning of ways to meet goals), an individual-differences measure is developed. Studies demonstrate acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and the factor structure identifies the agency and pathways components of the Hope Scale. Convergent and discriminant validity are documented, along with evidence suggesting that Hope Scale scores augmented the prediction of goal-related activities and coping strategies beyond other self-report measures. Construct validational support is provided in regard to predicted goal-setting behaviors; moreover, the hypothesized goal appraisal processes that accompany the various levels of hope are corroborated.     

Reliability of proxy response on mental health indices for aged, community-dwelling women

The correspondence between respondent and proxy response was evaluated on 4 mental health measures (Affect Balance Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, Mental Status Questionnaire, and Mini-Mental State Examination) with a sample of 538 respondent-proxy pairs. Results indicated that respondent and proxy responses were strongly associated, particularly for the cognitive measures. This association was found even for respondents classified as depressed or cognitively impaired. Although there was evidence of proxy bias, with proxies underrating affective status and overrating cognitive status, the magnitude of the bias proved small for all scales but the Mental Status Questionnaire. Examination of response comparability by proxy characteristics showed that choice of proxy affected agreement and bias. Implications of these findings for survey research are discussed.     

Measurement and correlates of sport-specific cognitive and somatic trait anxiety: The sport anxiety scale

Abstract

Previous research indicates the viability of a distinction between cognitive and somatic components of the anxiety response, and multidimensional anxiety scales have proven useful in relating cognitive and somatic anxiety to behavioral outcomes. This article describes the development and validation of a sport-specific measure of cognitive and somatic trait anxiety. The Sport Anxiety Scale measures individual differences in Somatic Anxiety and in two classes of cognitive anxiety, Worry and Concentration Disruption. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported these dimensions in several different athlete samples. Psychometric properties of the Sport Anxiety Scale are described, as are its relations with other psychological measures and with precompetition affective state measures. In the last of the four studies reported, scores on the Concentration Disruption scale were negatively related to the performance of college football players over the course of a season. The studies suggest that the Sport Anxiety Scale may be useful in defining sport-related anxiety more sharply and assessing how the cognitive and somatic anxiety components relate to performance and other outcome measures in sport.     

Evaluation of the Dispositional Hope Scale in injury survivors

Hope is a higher-order cognitive construct that encompasses the belief in one’s ability to accomplish personal goals. Hope has been conceptualised as consisting of two constructs – Pathways (the individual’s perceived means available to achieve goals) and Agency (belief in ones ability to succeed in using the identified Pathways). This study aimed to validate a measure of hope, the Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS: [Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigman, S. T., et al. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570–585]) in a large sample of traumatic injury survivors (N = 1025). The findings support the psychometric properties of the scale, as well as the two-factor structure of Agency and Pathways, in this population. This study provides support for the use of the DHS as a measure of hope in traumatised populations.     

REVIEW: "Spirituality and Adult Development"

Greeley's (1975) measure of mystical experience-conceived as having either 2 or 4 levels-was presented to 227 psychology undergraduates along with Bradburn's (1969) 3 Affect Scales, the Magical Ideation Scale, the Manic-Depressiveness Scale, and an independently constructed 22-item Rasch Mystical Experience Scale (MES). These students reported significantly more mystical experience than did Greeley's sample. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient between the MES and the 2-level measure was .18 (p = .014), and with the 4-level measure it was = .54 (p < .001). The 2-level measure failed to replicate Greeley's finding of a relationship with Balance Affect (i.e., happiness). Though small, the correlations between both the 4-level Greeley measure and the MES with Balance Affect and Positive Affect were positive and significant. At the same time, the 4-level Greeley measure correlated moderately with the Magical Ideation Scale (both paranormal and nonparapsychological subscales). The MES correlated moderately and somewhat higher with these same variables. The results, apparently contradictory, were reconciled in part by considering the concept of the happy schizotype and of positive outcomes of mental illness.     

Rainbows in the society: A measure of hope for society

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a measure of social hope. Previous studies have extensively reported on personal hope and its outcomes. Although a few studies have suggested the concept of collective or social hope, there is no instrument to assess the construct. In this study, we created a 5‐item scale, drawing on Snyder's hope theory, and collected two sets of survey data online. Analysis of these data sets revealed that the new scale was structurally unidimensional and internally consistent. In association with Snyder's State Hope Scale, the Social Hope Scale showed convergent and discriminant validity. The social hope construct also exhibited theoretically meaningful relationships with political efficacy and self‐construal (concurrent validity). Finally, social hope was higher for those who had participated in certain types of social activism than it was for those who had not (predictive validity). These results suggest that the Social Hope Scale is a reliable and valid self‐report measure of hopeful thinking for society.     

Examining the feasibility of the integrated hope scale in American college students

The Integrated Hope Scale (IHS) provides a multi-dimensional evaluation of factors common across measures of hope, examining social relationships, trust and confidence, perspectives of the future, and a lack of hopefulness. Despite promise for the instrument’s utility, research on the IHS is sparse has been limited to non-English-speaking populations, requiring translated items, and the cross-cultural transportability of hope constructs has previously been raised. Predominant theories of hope used in American populations have been criticized for not measuring important aspects that are included within the IHS. Using confirmatory factor analysis and latent class analysis, this study explored the IHS’s structural integrity and interpretive potential using a regionally and racially diverse sample of American college students. Results suggest that the IHS offers a valid global assessment of hope as well as for targeted measurement of discrete areas identified by instrument factor scores. The IHS also shows promise in differentiating individuals according to their level of hopefulness.     

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of two forgiveness scales

This study examined the psychometric properties of two forgiveness scales using participants enrolled at a Midwestern Catholic university (N = 328). The Forgiveness Scale is a 15—item Likert-type scale designed to measure forgiveness toward an of-fender. The Forgiveness Likelihood Scale is a 10—item Likert-type scale designed to measure tendency to forgive across situations. Factor analyses revealed that the For-giveness Scale contains two subscales (i.e., Absence of Negative, Presence of Posi-tive) and the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale consists of a single factor. Both scales have adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Both subscales of the Forgiveness Scale were significantly correlated in the expected direction with mea-sures of forgiveness, religiousness, anger, hope, religious well-being, existential well-being, and social desirability. The Forgiveness Likelihood Scale was significantly correlated in the expected direction with measures of forgiveness, religiousness, trait anger, religious well-being, and social desirability. The authors thank Sarah Danko, Anne Hovancsek, Carla Kmett, Jennifer Martin, and Colleen Ryan for their assistance. We kindly request that researchers who use the forgiveness scales evaluated in this study provide us with a summary of their psychometric data for the scales. The idea for creating the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale was based upon the Willingness to Forgive Scale (Hebl & Enright, 1993).     

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of two forgiveness scales

This study examined the psychometric properties of two forgiveness scales using participants enrolled at a Midwestern Catholic university (N = 328). The Forgiveness Scale is a 15—item Likert-type scale designed to measure forgiveness toward an of-fender. The Forgiveness Likelihood Scale is a 10—item Likert-type scale designed to measure tendency to forgive across situations. Factor analyses revealed that the For-giveness Scale contains two subscales (i.e., Absence of Negative, Presence of Posi-tive) and the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale consists of a single factor. Both scales have adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Both subscales of the Forgiveness Scale were significantly correlated in the expected direction with mea-sures of forgiveness, religiousness, anger, hope, religious well-being, existential well-being, and social desirability. The Forgiveness Likelihood Scale was significantly correlated in the expected direction with measures of forgiveness, religiousness, trait anger, religious well-being, and social desirability. The authors thank Sarah Danko, Anne Hovancsek, Carla Kmett, Jennifer Martin, and Colleen Ryan for their assistance. We kindly request that researchers who use the forgiveness scales evaluated in this study provide us with a summary of their psychometric data for the scales. The idea for creating the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale was based upon the Willingness to Forgive Scale (Hebl & Enright, 1993).     

Hypnotic suggestibility,cognitive inhibition,and dissociation

We examined two potential correlates of hypnotic suggestibility: dissociation and cognitive inhibition. Dissociation is the foundation of two of the major theories of hypnosis and other theories commonly postulate that hypnotic responding is a result of attentional abilities (including inhibition). Participants were administered the Waterloo-Stanford Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form C. Under the guise of an unrelated study, 180 of these participants also completed: a version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale that is normally distributed in non-clinical populations; a latent inhibition task, a spatial negative priming task, and a memory task designed to measure negative priming. The data ruled out even moderate correlations between hypnotic suggestibility and all the measures of dissociation and cognitive inhibition overall, though they also indicated gender differences. The results are a challenge for existing theories of hypnosis.     

The angry cognitions scale: a new inventory for assessing cognitions in anger

Although cognitive–behavioral therapy is the preferred anger management treatment, research on the cognitive processes associated with anger is relatively sparse. One reason for this has been a lack of adequate measures of the cognitive processes associated with anger. The current study addresses this limitation by developing a theoretically derived instrument to measure the cognitive processes thought to be associated with maladaptive anger. Pilot work identified a set of 72 items written to reflect 5 domains that cut across cognitive theories of anger: overgeneralizing, inflammatory labeling, demandingness, catastrophic evaluation, and misattributing causation. Items were administered to 362 participants and statistical analyses yielded the 54-item Angry Cognitions Scale (ACS). Evidence supporting the construct validity of the ACS was demonstrated through relationships with the experience and expression/control of anger, hostile thoughts, anger consequences, depression and anxiety, and other measures of positive and negative cognitions.     

Structure of subjective well-being among the elderly

This article interprets subjective well-being within the framework of cognitive theories of emotion. A model consisting of three recurrent components of expressions of well-being--positive affect, negative affect, and cognition--was compared with two variations of models proposed by Liang. Drawing two random samples of persons with minimum age equal to 65 from the Myth and Reality of Aging in America Survey, lisrel analyses were undertaken on 17 items from the Affect Balance Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index Form A. All models provided an acceptable fit as indicated by ratios of chi-square to degrees of freedom. Implications are noted for the conceptualization and study of subjective well-being.     

The origins of hope in adolescence: A test of a social–cognitive model

We investigated the origins of individual differences in hope in adolescents based on a social–cognitive model. Specifically, we examined a mediating role for self-esteem and optimism in the relation between social support and hope. One thousand six hundred fifty four adolescents (781 boys and 873 girls) from Mainland China completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) and the Children's Hope Scale (CHS). Social support was associated positively with self-esteem, optimism and hope, and hope was associated positively with self-esteem and optimism. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that self-esteem and optimism partially mediated the relation between social support and hope, accounting for 62.7% of the effect of social support on hope. The significance and limitations of the results are discussed.     

Self-image disparity, repression-sensitization, and extraversion-introversion: a unitary dimension?

To determination (1) whether self-image disparity, repression-sensitization, and extraversion-introversion intercorrelated to a degree indicative of a unitary personality dimension and, (2) whether the interrelationships among these variables was accounted for by cognitive developmental variance, Byrne's Revised Repression-Sensitization Scale, Giedt and Downing's Extraversion-Introversion Scale, and two measures of self-image disparity were administered to 20 male college freshmen and 20 male seniors. All the correlations among the four measures were significant, but none correlated significantly with cognitive development, as measured by SATs. Factor analysis yielded a clearcut personality factor and a clearcut cognitive factor, indicating that the personality measures reflect a unitary dimension, even after cognitive developmental variance is extracted.     

Cognitive and somatic anxiety

Three hundred and forty adults (including sports players, recreational exercisers, mediators and sedentary controls) completed three inventories purporting to measure cognitive and somatic aspects of anxiety. These were the Cognitive-Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire (CSAQ) devised by Schwartz, Davidson & Goleman (Psychosomatic Medicine, 40, 321-328, 1978), the Worry-Emotionality Scale (WES, Morris, Davis & Hutchens, Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 541-555, 1981) and the Lehrer-Woolfolk (1982) Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (LWASQ). Factor analysis of the CSAQ and WES identified distinct cognitive and somatic anxiety factors in both inventories. Higher somatic than cognitive ratings were recorded on the CSAQ and WES, while the pattern was reversed on the LWASQ. The CSAQ can tentatively be recommended as a useful measure of these two anxiety components. We were unable to confirm an observation made previously in the literature that practice of meditation is associated with reduced cognitive anxiety, or that exercise is linked with lower somatic anxiety.     

Measuring romantic jealousy: Validation of the multidimensional jealousy scale in Australian samples

Although a number of questionnaires have been developed to measure romantic jealousy, there is a lack of independent research that has substantiated their psychometric properties and minimal research that has tested and applied these measures in a consistent and reliable way. We aimed to address these gaps by providing the first validation study of an existing measure of romantic jealousy—the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (MJS). The MJS was subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in two separate samples of individuals in romantic relationships of at least 2 months duration. A 17‐item Short‐Form MJS (SF‐MJS) was supported, with three factors representing cognitive, emotional, and behavioural jealousy. Internal reliabilities were high. Consistent evidence supported the discriminant and concurrent validity of the SF‐MJS. Overall, the current research provides a brief, validated measure of romantic jealousy for use in the general population. Potential clinical uses are discussed.     

Mood-induced changes on the Implicit Association Test in recovered depressed patients

A mood induction paradigm was used to examine dysphoria-related changes in two types of cognitive processing in individuals who had previously experienced depression. Formerly depressed patients (n = 23) and never-depressed controls (n = 27) completed the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, a self-report measure of effortful processing, and performed the Implicit Association Test, an automatic-reaction time task that measures evaluative bias, before and after a negative-mood induction. The formerly depressed group showed both an increase in endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes and a more negative evaluative bias for self-relevant information after the induction, relative to controls--however, there was no association between the mood-linked changes observed on these two measures. The shift in evaluative bias shown by the formerly depressed group was similar to that seen in a group of 32 currently depressed individuals. These findings suggest that even a mild negative mood in formerly depressed individuals can reinstate some of the cognitive features observed in depression itself.     

Self‐Directing Religious Coping: A Deistic God,Abandoning God,or No God at All?

Self-directing religious coping has been correlated with both positive and negative outcome variables in previous research. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential meaning behind these mixed findings by clarifying the nature of the self-directing religious coping construct. A new set of subscales was constructed that operationalized different aspects of the construct. This scale, the original Religious Problem Solving Scale, and mental-health measures were given to 262 undergraduate students at a moderate-sized midwestern university. Two factors were identified with the revised self-directing measure: a deistic and supportive but nonintervening God factor and an abandoning God factor. The Abandoning God Subscale was more highly correlated with the original Self-Directing Scale than was the deistic God measure. The Deistic and Supportive God Subscale was correlated with both positive and negative mental-health outcomes, whereas the abandoning God measure consistently related to poorer outcomes.     

Validation of Basic Empathy Scale: Exploring a Korean Version

The Basic Empathy Scale was designed to measure the multidimensional aspects of empathetic feelings, such as cognitive and affective empathy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Basic Empathy Scale (BES). The Korean version of BES was administered to a sample of early adolescents aged 12–14 (N = 1524). The result of confirmatory factor analysis showed a two-factor solution with method effects associated with negatively worded items to be the most adequate model. Empathy was positively correlated with the measure of attachment, negatively correlated with the measure of bullying problems, and exhibited satisfactory internal consistency. BES proved to be a reliable assessment tool for empathy in a Korean adolescent sample. Moreover, in line with the previous research, girls were found to score significantly higher in both cognitive and affective empathy than boys.