Authority as a contingency plan

Humean constructivists object to Kantian constructivism that by endorsing the constitutivist strategy, which grounds moral obligations in rational agency, this position discounts the impact of contingency in moral life. In response to these charges, I argue that Humeans misrepresent the challenge of contingency and fail to provide adequate resources to cope with it. In its formalist variety, Humean constructivism fails to make sense of an important category of ethical judgments, which claim universal authority. The substantive varieties of Humean constructivism recognize that some ethical judgments aspire to universality, but fail to fully justify such an aspiration. These versions of constructivism represent a setback in regard to the achievements of Kantian constructivism. In conclusion, I briefly resume the advantages of advocating a Kantian conception of rational authority as a response to contingency.     

Evaluating the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire: Comparison of the Reliability,Factor Structure,and Predictive Validity across Five Versions

Five versions of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ), a self‐report measure of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, have been used in recent studies (including 10‐, 12‐, 15‐, 18‐, and 25‐items). Findings regarding the associations between perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and suicidal ideation using different versions have been mixed, potentially due to differences in measurement scales. This study evaluated factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent predictive validity of these five versions in three samples. Samples 1 and 2 were comprised of 449 and 218 undergraduates, respectively; Sample 3 included 114 adolescent psychiatric inpatients. All versions demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. The 10‐item version and 15‐item version demonstrated the best, most consistent model fit in confirmatory factor analyses. Both perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness consistently predicted concurrent suicidal ideation on the 10‐item INQ only. Future research should consider using the 15‐item or 10‐item versions.     

Psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire parent form

ABSTRACT

The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire parent form (APQ-P) is one of the most commonly used measures to assess parenting practices. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of the APQ-P using a community sample of 499 Portuguese mothers of children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 years. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed adequate psychometric properties of a three-factor model (positive parenting, ineffective parenting, and poor monitoring) in a solution of 20-items. After comparing the three-factor model across children’s age groups (≤13 vs. ≥14), partial metric and partial scalar invariance were found. Items loadings were similar between groups for ineffective parenting and poor monitoring, and factor scores were similar between groups for positive parenting. The 20-item version can be an appropriate measure of parenting, relevant for research and intervention purposes. Future studies should validate the current findings in independent samples, and devote particular attention to different parenting practices across different children’s age groups.