Lifetime Suicidal Behaviors and Career Characteristics Among U.S. Army Soldiers: Results from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS)

The current report presents data on lifetime prevalence of suicide ideation and nonfatal attempts as reported by the large representative sample of U.S. Army soldiers who participated in the Consolidated All‐Army Survey of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (N  =  29,982). We also examine associations of key Army career characteristics with these outcomes. Prevalence estimates for lifetime suicide ideation are 12.7% among men and 20.1% among women, and for lifetime suicide attempts are 2.5% and 5.1%, respectively. Retrospective age‐of‐onset reports suggest that 53.4%–70% of these outcomes had preenlistment onsets. Results revealed that, for both men and women, being in the Regular Army, compared with being in the National Guard or Army Reserve, and being in an enlisted rank, compared with being an officer, is associated with increased risk of suicidal behaviors and that this elevated risk is present both before and after joining the Army.     

Variations of career decision ambiguity tolerance between China and the United States and between high school and college

The variation of career decision ambiguity tolerance (CDAT) by cultures and development stages was examined in a sample of Chinese high school students (n = 339), a sample of Chinese college students (n = 356), along with U.S. college students (n = 328). It was hypothesized that career decision ambiguity tolerance decreases when individuals experience more societal/cultural pressure on decidedness and responsibility for their career decision making. Based on the three-factor structure of CDAT (i.e., preference, tolerance, and aversion), measurement invariance was examined between Chinese and U.S. college students and between Chinese high school and college students. While the factor of tolerance was not upheld in both Chinese samples, the factors of preference and aversion were found to be structurally invariant across cultures and developmental stages. The analyses comparing means of preference and aversion found that U.S. college students had a higher level of preference relative to Chinese college students. It was also found that in comparison to Chinese high school students, Chinese college students had a higher level of aversion. The criterion validity of CDAT in Chinese culture was supported in the findings of preference and aversion being associated with career exploration and career indecision. The implication of this study was discussed along with its limitations and suggestions for future research.     

The MMPI-2 in Perú: a normative study

In this study, we compared a Peruvian normative group to the standard Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989b) U.S. normative sample. The MMPI-2 Hispanic Version was administered under standardized conditions to participants with a wide range of age, educational, occupational, and socioeconomic levels. Between the 2 samples, there was a high degree of similarity across most basic and supplementary scales. Elevations (Ts = 60-65) were found on Scale F for men and women and Scales Mf and MDS for women only. For both men and women, small elevations (Ts = 55-60) were found on several other scales. The differences were consistent with those found in other Latin American populations. The results of this study suggest that the adaptation of the MMPI-2 with the U.S. norms is appropriate for use in Perú.     

Measuring sport fantasy proneness and deflated reality in sport and performance: Development and validation of two context-specific instruments

Fantasy-prone personalities and generalized states of pessimism and hopelessness have been linked to various behavioural, cognitive, and health related outcomes in the general population. Nevertheless, to date, knowledge of sport-specific fantasy proneness and athletes’ perception of deflated reality in sport is scarce, possibly due to a lack of appropriate psychometric instruments to examine these two important context-specific constructs. In this research, we developed the Sport Fantasy Proneness Scale (SFPS) and the Deflated Reality in Sport Scale (DRSS), first assessing the content validity of items for the instruments following a rigorous process. Through two cross-sectional samples (Study 1: Sample 1 N = 255, Sample 2 N = 260) and one longitudinal sample (Study 2: Sample 3 N = 118) of competitive athletes in the UK, we then examined factorial, convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity and measurement invariance (Study 1), as well as internal consistency, and test-retest reliability (Study 2) of the two new scales. Results revealed robust construct validity and reliability of scores on the two instruments and suggested very good invariance when implementing the new scales to athletes from different sports and competitive levels and good invariance for cross-gender comparisons. The new scales fill a gap in the sport psychology literature and provide researchers and practitioners with robust psychometric instruments to examine new research questions and tackle issues relevant to athletes’ sport-specific fantasy proneness and perceptions of deflated reality.     

Should research experience be used for selection into graduate school: A discussion and meta‐analytic synthesis of the available evidence

Prior research experience is widely considered by graduate school admissions committees in the United States of America. Here, we use meta‐analytic methods and data from 18 unique samples and a total sample size of 3,525 students to shed light on the validity of prior research experience as a predictor of graduate school performance. Prior research experience was largely unrelated to academic performance (ρ = .01, k = 8, N = 1,419), degree attainment (ρ = .05, k = 3, N = 140), professional/practice performance (ρ = .06, k = 4, N = 1,120), and publication performance (ρ = .11, k = 7, N = 1,094). We also discuss whether consideration of prior research experience may unfairly disadvantage the students with lower levels of SES, students with childcare or eldercare responsibilities, and students from institutions at which research opportunities are limited.     

Psychometric Evaluation of the MMPI–2 Restructured Clinical Scales in Two Dutch Samples

In this article, we evaluate internal validity, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability of the MMPI–2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales in the Dutch MMPI–2 normative sample (N = 1,244) and a Dutch outpatient psychiatric sample (N = 1,066). We pay special attention to a critique regarding construct drift of RC3 and the redundancy of the RC scales with existing MMPI–2 scales. The results indicate that the RC scales in both samples show comparable or better internal consistencies than the Clinical scales. Also, in both samples, the RC scales demonstrate lower scale-level intercorrelations than the Clinical scales. As to the structural characteristics, principal component analysis of the RC scales provided a clearer pattern than an analysis of the Clinical scales. Furthermore, mean raw scores on the RC scales for men in the Dutch normative sample corresponded highly with those in the U.S. normative sample except for RC2 and RC4. Less correspondence was found for women. Overall, we conclude that the RC scales show satisfactory reliability and promising internal validity in our Dutch samples. We suggest that U.S. validation studies on the RC scales may be generalized to the Dutch-language version of the MMPI–2 RC scales.     

Does body dissatisfaction have the same meaning for males and females? A measurement invariance study

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the psychometric equivalence of body dissatisfaction (BD) between males and females.MethodTwo scales, BD and Drive to Thinness (DT), from the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 were evaluated. The sample was comprised of 1616 adolescent males and 1429 adolescent females. Factorial invariance across gender of two scales was assessed in order to evaluate the equivalence of scores.ResultsThe results showed full invariance for the DT scale items, and partial invariance for BD scale items. The content analysis of the items confirmed that items related to the perception of thighs, stomach and hips showed differential functioning across gender.ConclusionsDifferent representation of the BD construct between males and females was concluded, and caution was recommended in assessing and interpreting BD in male samples with questionnaires designed for women.     

Psychometric evaluation of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical scales in two Dutch samples

In this article, we evaluate internal validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales in the Dutch MMPI-2 normative sample (N = 1,244) and a Dutch outpatient psychiatric sample (N = 1,066). We pay special attention to a critique regarding construct drift of RC3 and the redundancy of the RC scales with existing MMPI-2 scales. The results indicate that the RC scales in both samples show comparable or better internal consistencies than the Clinical scales. Also, in both samples, the RC scales demonstrate lower scale-level intercorrelations than the Clinical scales. As to the structural characteristics, principal component analysis of the RC scales provided a clearer pattern than an analysis of the Clinical scales. Furthermore, mean raw scores on the RC scales for men in the Dutch normative sample corresponded highly with those in the U.S. normative sample except for RC2 and RC4. Less correspondence was found for women. Overall, we conclude that the RC scales show satisfactory reliability and promising internal validity in our Dutch samples. We suggest that U.S. validation studies on the RC scales may be generalized to the Dutch-language version of the MMPI-2 RC scales.     

Association of the Thin Body Ideal, Ambivalent Sexism, and Self-Esteem with Body Acceptance and the Preferred Body Size of College Women in Poland and the United States

A study of body satisfaction in 111 Polish and 83 U.S. college women indicated that when Body Mass Index (BMI) was controlled Polish women had larger perceived body sizes and desired a larger body ideal. The Polish sample had higher scores on the Hostile and Benevolent Sexism scales (Glick & Fiske, 1996), whereas the U.S. sample scored higher on the Internalization scale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ; Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995). Benevolent sexism was related to the acceptance and use of cosmetics in the Polish sample, but not in the U.S. sample. The SATAQ Awareness and Internalization scales were related to low body acceptance in both samples. The Internalization scale was related to discrepancies between the respondents' own bodies and their ideal body types in the U.S. sample but not in the Polish sample. Although the Polish and U.S. samples were more alike than different, sexism was strongly associated with body dissatisfaction in the Polish sample, whereas the SATAQ Internalization scale was strongly associated with body dissatisfaction in the U.S. sample. The results support the hypothesis of globalization of the thin body ideal, illustrate the importance of controlling for BMI in studies of body satisfaction, and demonstrate relationships between sexism, internalization of the thin body ideal, and body dissatisfaction.     

Negative attributes are gendered too: Conceptualizing and measuring positive and negative facets of sex‐role identity

Measures of gender identity have almost exclusively relied on positive aspects of masculinity and femininity, although conceptually the self‐concept is not limited to positive attributes. A theoretical argument is made for considering negative attributes of gender identity, followed by five studies developing the Positive–Negative Sex‐Role Inventory (PN‐SRI) as a new measure of gender identity. Study 1 demonstrated that many of the attributes of a German version of the Bem Sex‐Role Inventory are no longer considered to differ in desirability for men and women. For the PN‐SRI, Study 2 elicited attributes characterizing men and women in today's society, for which ratings of typicality and desirability as well as self‐ratings by men and women were obtained in Study 3. Study 4 examined the reliability and factorial structure of the four subscales of positive and negative masculinity and femininity and demonstrated the construct and discriminant validity of the PN‐SRI by showing that the negative masculinity and femininity scales were unique predictors of select validation constructs. Study 5 showed that the new instrument explained variance in the validation constructs beyond earlier measures of gender identity. Key message: Even in the construction of negative aspects of gender identity, individuals prefer gender‐congruent attributes. Negative masculinity and femininity make a unique contribution to understanding gender‐related differences in psychological outcome variables. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Irrelevant‐action imitation is short‐term and contextual: Evidence from two under‐studied populations

Across the lifespan and across populations, humans ‘overimitate’ causally unnecessary behaviors. Such irrelevant‐action imitation facilitates faithful cultural transmission, but its immediate benefits to the imitator are controversial. Over short time scales, irrelevant‐action imitation may bootstrap artifact exploration or interpersonal affiliation, and over longer time scales it may facilitate acquisition of either causal models or social conventions. To investigate these putative functions, we recruited community samples from two under‐studied populations: Yasawa, Fiji, and Huatasani, Peru. We use a two‐action puzzle box: first after a video demonstration, and again one month later. Treating age as a continuous variable, we reveal divergent developmental trajectories across sites. Yasawans (44 adults, M = 39.9 years, 23 women; 42 children, M = 9.8 years, 26 girls) resemble documented patterns, with irrelevant‐action imitation increasing across childhood and plateauing in adulthood. In contrast, Huatasaneños (48 adults, M = 37.6 years, 33 women; 47 children, M = 9.3 years, 13 girls) evince a parabolic trajectory: adults at the site show the lowest irrelevant‐action imitation of any demographic set in our sample. In addition, all age sets in both populations reduce their irrelevant actions at Time 2, but do not reduce their relevant‐action imitation or goal attainment. Taken together, and considering the local cultural contexts, our results suggest that irrelevant‐action imitation serves a short‐term function and is sensitive to the social context of the demonstration.     

The Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale

The current study has two main goals: (a) to identify a factor structure of the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) on a large archival data, collected from 1,325 adults in the United States (709 women, 616 men) by the U.S. General Social Survey in 2004 and (b) to examine the measurement invariance of the 16 DSES items between women and men in the same data to see whether any of the items are favoring or biased toward either women or men. The one-factor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model fit our data better than the two-factor CFA models because of high correlations between the two factors (r > .90). The fit of the one-factor CFA to our sample data was improved when we specified seven correlated residuals suggested by overlapping item content and large modification indices. The ensuing measurement invariance testing of the one-factor CFA model with seven correlated residuals supported full measurement invariance of factor loadings, thresholds, and residual variances, as well as factor variances between the women and the men. Yet the factor mean for the women was .841 units (Cohen’s d = .496) higher than it was for the men, indicating that higher levels of daily spiritual experiences for women reported in gender comparison studies in the United States are not likely to be an artifact of bias in the questionnaire.     

Comparability of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 between women and men

Researchers studying eating disorders in men often use eating-disorder risk and symptom measures that have been validated only on women. Using a sample of 215 college women and 214 college men, this article reports on the validity the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), one of the best-validated among women and the most widely used risk and symptom measure for women. The EDI-2 had the same, standard eight-factor structure for both genders, and tests of invariance showed that factor loadings, factor variances, and factor intercorrelations were equivalent across gender. The EDI-2 scales correlated with questionnaire measures of bulimic and anorexic symptomatology equivalently across gender. However the EDI-2 scales were generally less reliable for men, leading to slightly lower Pearson-based estimates of correlations among the measures for men.     

Personality for free: Psychometric properties of a public domain Australian measure of the five‐factor model

Fifty items from Goldberg's International Personality Item Pool were compiled to form a public‐domain measure of personality, the Australian Personality Inventory (API). Data from a random community sample (N = 7615) and a university‐based sample (N = 271) were used to explore psychometric properties of this 50‐item measure of the five‐factor model of personality (FFM). In both samples, internal reliabilities were adequate. In the university‐based sample an appropriate pattern of convergent and divergent relationship was found between scale scores and domain scores from the NEO Five‐Factor Inventory. After adjusting for an apparent response set (mean response across items), exploratory factor analyses clearly retrieved the FFM in both samples. It is provisionally concluded that raw scale scores from the API provide reliable estimates of the FFM, but adjustment for mean response across the 50 items might clarify the five‐factor structure, especially in less educated samples.     

Prior Mental Disorders and Lifetime Suicidal Behaviors Among US Army Soldiers in the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS)

We report on associations of retrospectively reported temporally prior mental disorders and Army career characteristics with subsequent first onset of suicidal behaviors in a large, representative sample of US Army soldiers who participated in the Consolidated All‐Army Survey of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (N = 29,982). Results reveal that among men and women, all self‐reported lifetime disorders measured (some assessed with screening scales) are associated with subsequent onset of suicide ideation. Among men, three disorders characterized by agitation and impulsiveness (intermittent explosive disorder, panic disorder, and substance disorders) predict the transition from suicide ideation to attempt. For both men and women, being in the Regular Army (vs. National Guard or Army Reserve) predicts suicide attempts in the total sample. For men, a history of deployment and junior rank are predictors of suicide attempts after adjusting for preenlistment disorders but not accounting for pre‐ and postenlistment disorders, suggesting that postenlistment disorders account for some of the increased suicide risk among these career characteristics. Overall, these results highlight associations between mental disorders and suicidal behaviors, but underscore limitations predicting which people with ideation attempt suicide.     

Investigation of Psychometric Properties of the Test for Creative Thinking—Drawing Production: Evidence from Study in Latvia

The Test for Creative Thinking—Drawing Production (TCT‐DP) is designed as an effective drawing‐based instrument for measuring creative potential. Many studies report adaptation efforts in other cultures pointing out good psychometric properties of the instrument nonetheless revealing also some trouble spots. The present study includes adaptation of TCT‐DP in Latvia and investigation of psychometric properties of the instrument such as measurement invariance between forms, sequence effect, gender differences, and factor structure of criteria employing methodology of structural equation modeling. Two samples were involved in the study—9th‐grade students (n = 300) and 15‐year‐old 9th‐grade students (n = 200). Results indicate that trained judges are able to achieve high reliability in evaluation of TCT‐DP total score and all criteria if some criteria are divided into subcategories. It was also found that TCT‐DP has measurement invariance between both forms but has small effect sizes regarding gender differences and method sequence. Observed differences of TCT‐DP total scores between the Latvian sample and relevant samples from Germany and Hong Kong could be considered as trivial. The study also revealed that, following original instructions, some test criteria had strong interdependence and therefore strategies in the evaluation process reducing interdependencies between criteria should be considered in future studies on the structure of TCT‐DP.     

Are high levels of religiosity inconsistent with a high valuation of science? Evidence from the United States,China and Iran

We asked whether high levels of religiosity are inconsistent with a high valuation of science. We explored this possibility in three countries that diverge markedly in the relation between the state and religion. Parents in the United States (n = 126), China (n = 234) and Iran (n = 77) completed a survey about their personal and parental stance towards science. The relation between religiosity and the valuation of science varied sharply by country. In the U.S. sample, greater religiosity was associated with a lower valuation of science. A similar but weaker negative relation was found in the Chinese sample. Parents in the Iranian sample, by contrast, valued science highly, despite high levels of religiosity. Given the small size of our United States and Iranian samples, and the non-probabilistic nature of our samples in general, we caution readers not to generalise our findings beyond the current samples. Despite this caveat, these findings qualify the assumption that religiosity is inconsistent with the valuation of science and highlight the role of sociocultural context in shaping adults' perception of the relation between religion and science.     

Moral grandstanding and political polarization: A multi-study consideration

The present work posits that social motives, particularly status seeking in the form of moral grandstanding, are likely at least partially to blame for elevated levels of affective polarization and ideological extremism in the U.S. In Study 1, results from both undergraduates (N = 981; Mean age = 19.4; SD = 2.1; 69.7% women) and a cross-section of U.S. adults matched to 2010 census norms (N = 1,063; Mean age = 48.20, SD = 16.38; 49.8% women) indicated that prestige-motived grandstanding was consistently and robustly related to more extreme ideological views on a variety of issues. In Study 2, results from a weighted, nationally-representative cross-section of U.S. adults (N = 2,519; Mean age = 47.5, SD = 17.8; 51.4% women) found that prestige motivated grandstanding was reliably related to both ideological extremism and affective polarization.     

The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support: Analyses of Internal Reliability,Measurement Invariance,and Correlates Across Gender

In this study, we examined estimates of internal consistency reliability, measurement invariance, and differential correlates of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) in samples of undergraduate men (n = 270) and women (n = 340). The MSPSS is designed to assess 3 sources of perceived social support: family, friends, and significant others. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 24 years (M _age = 19.60, SD = 1.4 years). First, composite scale reliability and coefficient omega methods provided adequate estimates of internal consistency reliability for the original MSPSS total and subscale scores. Second, results of multiple-groups invariance confirmatory factor analysis provided support for configural and metric invariance. Partial measurement invariance was attained for scalar and strict measurement invariance across men and women. Additionally, given the high correlations among the first-order factors, we conducted multiple-groups bifactor item response theory (bifactor-IRT) analysis to evaluate further the performances of the individual MSPSS items across gender. Support for the bifactor model was strong. Third, we conducted a series of simultaneous regression analyses to identify potential correlates of the social support construct for women and men.     

Testing the Internal Consent Scale for Measurement Invariance Across Women and Men

The Internal Consent Scale (ICS) was created to measure feelings associated with a person’s willingness to engage in partnered sexual activity. Although previous studies using the ICS have assessed gender differences, evidence has not been provided to suggest that the ICS functions similarly for women and men. Using data from an online cross-sectional survey of adults (N = 874; 53.1% women), we subjected the 25-item ICS to tests of measurement invariance across gender. We found that only partial measurement invariance was tenable, which indicated that direct comparisons across gender should be interpreted with caution when using the ICS. Therefore, we created a gender-invariant short form. In support of construct validity, we found that this 15-item ICS–Short Form demonstrated similar associations with measures of sexual consent communication as the full 25-item ICS. If researchers aim to compare women and men on internal sexual consent, we recommend using the 15-item ICS–Short Form. Cognitive interviews should be conducted to further understand how women and men might differentially interpret ICS items.