Chinese child-rearing beliefs: Key dimensions and contributions to the development of culture-appropriate assessment

Socio-cultural perspectives explain inconsistency in Chinese child-rearing research when imported methods and concepts are applied. We sought to elucidate child-rearing belief constructs relevant to Chinese contexts. Exploratory factor analysis identified items representing child-rearing concepts both imported and indigenous to Chinese culture and forming four dimensions: Training, Shame, Authoritative, and Autonomy. Data from parents of preschool-aged children in Hong Kong ( N  = 228) and Taiwan ( N  = 213) were subject to confirmatory factor and scale internal consistency analyses. Results support the conceptual and psychometric coherence of each subscale. Discussion of findings focuses on the benefits of culturally responsive methodology and the potential utility of the scales in child-rearing research with Chinese and other Confucian cultural populations.     

Validation of personality constructs for the selection of insurance industry employees

One hundred and nine employees working in clerical jobs in an insurance company participated in a concurrent criterion-related validity study. The employees were administered the Hogan Personality Inventory which consists of six basic scales and six occupational scales. Five criterion measures were collected: a within-department forced quintile distribution by the manager, and managerial ratings of the job factors of job knowledge, interpersonal skills, organization, and overall performance. The twelve test scores were correlated with each of the five criterion measures. The results revealed the Adjustment, Clerical Aptitude and Managerial Potential scales correlated significantly (p<.05) with each of the five criteria, while the Service Orientation scale correlated significantly with three of the five criteria. The results were discussed in the context of using personality scales to forecast job performance in the insurance industry.     

青少年亲社会倾向量表的修订

本研究以青少年群体为样本,对Carlo编制的亲社会倾向量表(PTM)进行修订。根据我国文化背景和青少年发展的具体状况建立了理论构想,并进行了四次测查,根据第一次测量结果在依从维度上增加了三个项目,增加了反向问题,对所有项目的表述做了必要的修改。又根据随后的测查结果删除了利他维度上的两个项目,修订后的PTM六个分量表——公开的、匿名的、利他的、依从的、情绪性的、紧急的内部一致性信度分别为0.708、0.778、0.755、0.738、0.726、0.561,各分量表与总量表的相关分别为0.494、0.758、0.801、0.800、0.789、0.803。量表的修订结果与Carlo在美国的修订结果较为接近,具有良好的心理学测量指标。     

Extending Holland's theory to adult women

The potential of Holland's theory for use in the vocational guidance of adult women depends in part on more validity data with regard to the conceptual meaningfulness of the constructs. This study reports the findings of a correlative analysis between scores on Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), which measures the six “styles”, and selected scales on four criterion tests predicted in advance to be related to the VPI. The findings for this sample of adult women indicate strong evidence for the validity of the Intellectual, Conventional and Enterprising “styles”, but questions are raised with regard to the meaningfulness of the Realistic, Social, and Artistic types.     

Relative versus absolute measures of explicit attitudes: Implications for predicting diverse attitude-relevant criteria

The authors report 4 studies exploring a self-report strategy for measuring explicit attitudes that uses "relative" ratings, in which respondents indicate how favorable or unfavorable they are compared with other people. Results consistently showed that attitudes measured with relative scales predicted relevant criterion variables (self-report of behavior, measures of knowledge, peer ratings of attitudes, peer ratings of behavior) better than did attitudes measured with more traditional "absolute" scales. The obtained pattern of differences in prediction by relative versus absolute measures of attitudes did not appear to be attributable to differential variability, social desirability effects, the clarity of scale-point meanings, the number of scale points, or overlap with subjective norms. The final study indicated that relative measures induce respondents to consider social comparison information and behavioral information when making their responses more than do absolute measures, which may explain the higher correlations between relative measures of attitudes and relevant criteria.     

Development and validation of a unifactorial measure of citizenship performance

Citizenship Performance has long been accepted as an important aspect of performance, but there has been little consensus on how best to measure this construct. Previous measures have assessed as many as five sub‐factors, yet recent meta‐analyses have indicated that citizenship is largely unifactorial. At the same time, none of the previously developed unifactorial Citizenship Performance scales have been adequately validated. Consequently, this article reports the development of a unifactorial measure of Citizenship Performance, which was found to have good criterion validity. The unifactorial scale also had superior convergent and divergent validity, and better internal factor structure, than the commonly‐used Job Dedication and Interpersonal Facilitation scales, developed by Van Scotter and Motowidlo (1996).     

The Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory as a Culturally Relevant Personality Measure in Applied Settings

This paper introduces the development of the Cross‐Cultural (Chinese) Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI) as a culturally relevant measure for personality assessment in collectivistic cultures. In addition to universal personality traits, the CPAI included indigenously derived scales that assessed the relational aspects of personality. We reported three studies that illustrated the usefulness of these indigenous scales in Chinese organizational settings. The Interpersonal Relatedness factor scales on the CPAI contributed additional value beyond scales from the universal factors of Social Potency and Dependability in profiling MBA students at senior‐level positions, in assessing hotel workers’ customer orientation, and in predicting senior executives’ leadership behaviors.     

Relationship Between Work Performance and Personality Traits in Hong Kong Organizational Settings

Four hundred and thirty‐seven employees from four Hong Kong organizations completed the Traditional Chinese versions of the Fifteen Factor Personality Questionnaire Plus (15FQ+) and the Cross‐Cultural Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI‐2) (indigenous scales) and provided objective and memory‐based recent performance appraisal scores. A number of significant bivariate correlations were found between personality and performance scores. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that a number of the scales from the 15FQ+ contributed to significantly predicting four of the performance competency dimensions, but that the CPAI‐2 indigenous scales contributed no incremental validity in performance prediction over and above the 15FQ+. Results are discussed in the light of previous research and a call made for continued research to further develop and increase the reliability of the Chinese instruments used in the study and to enable generalization of the findings with confidence.     

Factorial validity and measurement invariance of the Revised Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP-R) in three countries

The revised physical self-perception profile (PSPP-R) was constructed to measure both perceived competence and importance linked to domains of the physical self. In the present study, we tested the factorial validity of the PSPP-R, using confirmatory factor analytic approach, on samples of university students from three different countries: Sweden, Turkey, and the UK. Multi-sample covariance structure analyses were also used to test the invariance of the PSPP-R across the three national samples. First-order four-factor models, including the latent factors of sport competence, physical conditioning, body attractiveness and physical strength, demonstrated good-fit with the data both for competence and importance factors. Second-order factor models, incorporating the second-order latent domain factor of physical self-worth also exhibited good-fit with the data. Factor patterns and covariances were invariant across samples for both competence and importance scales. Item intercepts were also invariant for the importance scales, whereas partial invariance of intercepts was supported for competence scales. The results are discussed with reference to the validity of the original physical self-perception profile and cross-cultural studies on the physical self.     

自我提升的研究现状与展望

自我提升一直是人格和社会心理学研究中的主要问题。自我提升的概念界定可分为知觉自我与知觉他人的比较、自我知觉与外在标准的比较、基于社会关系模式（SRM）的界定等几种方法;相应地,测量自我提升的方法有社会赞许性测验、内省测验、标准差异测验、过分－宣称技术、环状设计中的测量等;介绍了自我提升与心理健康、生理变化、自尊、成绩的关系,以及自我提升的跨文化研究。最后,提出了自我提升研究中存在的不足以及今后的研究方向     

跨文化（中国人）个性测量表青少年版（CPAI-A）的香港标准化研究 ——兼顾文化共通性与特殊性的人格测量

以跨文化（中国人）个性测量表（CPAI-2）的成人版为基础,综合运用文化共通性（etic）和文化特殊性（emic）方法发展了相应的青少年版个性测量工具——CPAI-A,并在香港青少年人群中进行了标准化研究。结果表明CPAI-A有良好的信度和清晰的因素结构。文章从理论和实证两方面深入分析了学界日益关注的从青少年到成人人格的发展性与稳定性问题,以及人格特质评估的文化共通性与特殊性问题。最后建议CPAI-A量表发展的历程可能是融合本土化与跨文化人格评估发展过程中一条非常值得借鉴的思路     

Self‐reported psychopathology in a convicted serial killer

The following paper presents a case study of a convicted serial murderer. Through data from personal correspondence, police reports, a true crime novel, witness statements, medical examiner reports, court appeals, and crime scene reports from the actual murder cases, and most important, a series of psychological self‐report measures, a case study was developed. Included in the psychological measures were tests of general psychopathology, specific tests of psychopathy, anger and aggression scales, and sociological measures related to family, individual, situational, and community risk factors, as well as previous criminal behaviour, including weapon and drug use. The results of these various measures are incorporated into the life history and criminal activity of the individual. The purpose of this research was to develop a more complete psychological report of a serial killer than any other previously reported. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward a new approach to the study of personality in culture

We review recent developments in the study of culture and personality measurement. Three approaches are described: an etic approach that focuses on establishing measurement equivalence in imported measures of personality, an emic (indigenous) approach that studies personality in specific cultures, and a combined emic-etic approach to personality. We propose the latter approach as a way of combining the methodological rigor of the etic approach and the cultural sensitivity of the emic approach. The combined approach is illustrated by two examples: the first with origins in Chinese culture and the second in South Africa. The article ends with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the combined emic-etic approach for the study of culture and personality and for psychology as a science.     

Processing relative clauses in Chinese

This paper reports results from a self-paced reading study in Chinese that demonstrates that object-extracted relative clause structures are less complex than corresponding subject-extracted structures. These results contrast with results from processing other Subject-Verb-Object languages like English, in which object-extracted structures are more complex than subject-extracted structures. A key word-order difference between Chinese and other Subject-Verb-Object languages is that Chinese relative clauses precede their head nouns. Because of this word order difference, the results follow from a resource-based theory of sentence complexity, according to which there is a storage cost associated with predicting syntactic heads in order to form a grammatical sentence. The results are also consistent with a theory according to which people have less difficulty processing embedded clauses whose word order matches the word order in main clauses. Some corpus analyses of Chinese texts provide results that constrain the classes of possible frequency-based theories. Critically, these results demonstrate that there is nothing intrinsically easy about extracting from subject position: depending on the word order in the main clause and in a relative clause, extraction from object position can be easier to process in some circumstances.     

Domains and facets: hierarchical personality assessment using the revised NEO personality inventory

Personality traits are organized hierarchically, with narrow, specific traits combining to define broad, global factors. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992c) assesses personality at both levels, with six specific facet scales in each of five broad domains. This article describes conceptual issues in specifying facets of a domain and reports evidence on the validity of NEO-PI-R facet scales. Facet analysis-the interpretation of a scale in terms of the specific facets with which it correlates-is illustrated using alternative measures of the five-factor model and occupational scales. Finally, the hierarchical interpretation of personality profiles is discussed. Interpretation on the domain level yields a rapid understanding of the individual interpretation of specific facet scales gives a more detailed assessment.     

Intimate and Relational Loneliness in Adolescence

Research on peer-related loneliness in adolescence has paid insufficient attention to the distinction between intimate loneliness (i.e., in a dyadic relationship with a friend) and relational loneliness (i.e., in the broader peer group). This study examined the correlations among a broad set of loneliness scales. A sample of adolescents from Belgium (n?=?282; 60% female) completed 8 subscales of 6 established loneliness measures. Results revealed high correlations among these measures. At the same time, confirmatory factor analysis revealed the two expected factors, reflecting intimate and relational loneliness. Furthermore, it was found that boys experienced on average more intimate loneliness than girls, and girls experienced on average more relational loneliness than boys. As different types of loneliness are related to problems in different domains, and adolescents may experience one type of loneliness but not the other, it is essential to know which loneliness measure taps into which type of loneliness. The present study not only provides evidence for the distinction between intimate and relational loneliness, but also shows which type is covered by which of six commonly used loneliness measures. Based on these findings, researchers can now make a more deliberate selection of scales for future research, and can better interpret and integrate findings from previous studies that used different loneliness measures.     

Measures of child and adolescent psychopathology in Asia

This article reviews measures of child and adolescent psychopathology used in Asian cultures. Sixteen imported measures from the West are identified and their psychometric equivalence across cultures is reviewed; 2 new measures are briefly introduced. Although initial evidence is generally promising, more studies are needed to support their use in Asia. One recently developed Singapore measure cannot be considered genuinely indigenous. Culture-specific items proposed for imported measures could be grouped into existing diagnostic constructs. There is, as yet, no strong theoretical support for culture-bound diagnostic constructs in Asian cultures.     

Constructive thinking: a broad coping variable with specific components

The structure of constructive thinking and the development of an instrument for measuring it, the Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI), were discussed. Scales were derived from a factor analysis of an item domain of people's everyday automatic thinking. When the CTI and other tests were factor analyzed, separate intellective and nonintellective factors were found, with the CTI loading more strongly on the nonintellective factor than any other test. Only measures of IQ loaded on the intellective factor. The global constructive thinking scale correlated significantly with success in work, love, social relationships, and in maintaining emotional and physical well-being, but not with academic achievement, the only criterion with which the measures of IQ correlated strongly. The patterns of correlations between the CTI scales and the various criteria as well as the factor analysis demonstrated that the construct of constructive thinking is differentiated as well as integrated.