A semiparametric approach for item response function estimation to detect item misfit

When scaling data using item response theory, valid statements based on the measurement model are only permissible if the model fits the data. Most item fit statistics used to assess the fit between observed item responses and the item responses predicted by the measurement model show significant weaknesses, such as the dependence of fit statistics on sample size and number of items. In order to assess the size of misfit and to thus use the fit statistic as an effect size, dependencies on properties of the data set are undesirable. The present study describes a new approach and empirically tests it for consistency. We developed an estimator of the distance between the predicted item response functions (IRFs) and the true IRFs by semiparametric adaptation of IRFs. For the semiparametric adaptation, the approach of extended basis functions due to Ramsay and Silverman (2005) is used. The IRF is defined as the sum of a linear term and a more flexible term constructed via basis function expansions. The group lasso method is applied as a regularization of the flexible term, and determines whether all parameters of the basis functions are fixed at zero or freely estimated. Thus, the method serves as a selection criterion for items that should be adjusted semiparametrically. The distance between the predicted and semiparametrically adjusted IRF of misfitting items can then be determined by describing the fitting items by the parametric form of the IRF and the misfitting items by the semiparametric approach. In a simulation study, we demonstrated that the proposed method delivers satisfactory results in large samples (i.e., N ≥ 1,000).     

Development of the Spanish short version of Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory

Background/Objective: Masturbation has historically been a sexual behaviour associated with negative connotations, as a consequence of traditional orthodox positions, despite its positive impact on health. The instruments developed to measure the attitude towards masturbation are scarce, and none of them have been validated in the Spanish adult population. This study aims to propose a short version of the Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory (NATMI) and examine their psychometric properties (reliability and evidence of validity) in the Spanish adult population. Method: A total of 4,116 heterosexual adults aged 18-83 years (M = 40.58; SD = 12.24; 54.64% women) participated in the study. In addition to the NATMI, they answered other scales to assess sexual attitudes, sexual desire, propensity to become sexually excited/inhibited and sexual functioning. Results: Analysis of the construct validity of the NATMI resulted in a reduced version of ten items grouped into a single factor explaining 66% of the variance (ordinal alpha = .95). The evidence of validity is clear, as subjects with negative and positive attitude towards masturbation differed in religiousness, frequency of masturbation, erotophilia, positive attitude towards sexual fantasies, sexual inhibition and sexual functioning. Conclusions: The Spanish short version of NATMI provides reliable and valid measures in the Spanish adult population.     

Social Competence and Child-to-Parent Violence: Analyzing the Role of the Emotional Intelligence,Social Attitudes,and Personal Values

This study examined some variables of the so-called social competence, such as the emotional intelligence, social attitudes, and personal values in adolescents who had committed a parent-abuse offense, analyzing whether there were some differences with respect to non-offender adolescents. The sample included 60 participants. From them, 30 were adolescents who had been charged with committing a parent-abuse offense and 30 were non-offender adolescents. Results revealed that parent-abuse offenders showed lower levels of emotional intelligence, more antisocial and less prosocial attitudes than non-offender adolescents, as well as higher scores in hedonism and power values.     

A longitudinal study of temperament in infancy: stability and convergence of measures

This study analyzed the stability of individual differences in temperament and the convergence between two kinds of measures used to assess temperament: maternal report (IBQ and TBAQ), and laboratory measures. Sixty children were assessed at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age and their mothers' reports were collected at the same time. Mothers' perceptions of their children's temperament showed high stability across the range of children's ages. In laboratory, however, moderate stability was found only for the period between 9 and 12 months. Convergence between laboratory and maternal report measures was found at 6 and 12 months. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional autonomy and adjustment among emerging adults: The moderating role of family relationships

Emerging adults build their personal maturity within the family context; however, few studies focus on the role of emotional autonomy during this stage. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between emotional autonomy and adjustment during emerging adulthood, bearing in mind the possible moderating role of parental support in this relationship. Data were collected from 1,502 Spanish undergraduate students (903 women) aged between 18 and 29. Participants completed measures of emotional autonomy (EAS, Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986), family social support (MSPSS; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988), psychological well-being (PWBS; Ryff, Lee, Essex & Schmutte, 1995) and psychological distress (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). The results indicate that emotional autonomy correlates negatively with family support and psychological well-being and positively with psychological distress. However, only when young people perceive a family context with low social support is gaining emotional distance from their parents associated with an increase in their psychological well-being. Our findings highlight the crucial role that the family environment plays in well-being during young adulthood, and reveal that the effect of emotional distancing from parents on adjustment depends on the quality of the family climate. Future research should seek to gain greater insight into emotional autonomy during emerging adulthood, taking into account cross-cultural diversity.     

Negation Theory as a Cause of Delusion: The Case of the Unabomber

The case of the Unabomber is examined as a test of the authors' theory of negation, which is based on four steps: (1) negation, (2) persecutory ideation, (3) attachment to a transcendental source, and (4) evangelism/martyrdom. The Unabomber sent bombs that killed three persons and injured others, and became a cause celebre in the 1990s when he threatened to blow up an airliner in flight if his 36,000 word manifesto was not published in a leading periodical. Eventually captured and tried, he refused an insanity defense but accepted a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The authors' theory is a phenomenological model which encourages an intensive analysis of observations of behavior, with the goal of abstracting dimensions that serve to integrate the observations, codify them, and bind them into a unitary system.     

paraprofessionals: partners for employment counselors?

The Projectgroep Evaluatie Welzijn 0–18 jarige allochtonen (Research Group on the Evaluation of the Social Welfare Program for 0–18‐Year‐Olds of Ethnic Minority Backgrounds), a research group affiliated with the Verwey‐Jonker Institute, has studied the use of paraprofessionals in the Netherlands. This article is based on results from that research project. In the Netherlands, paraprofessionals are increasingly used to reach out to target groups, particularly ethnic minorities, and are themselves usually members of the target group. Employment counselors often need to provide guidance for people belonging to ethnic minorities. The authors recommend that employment counselors use paraprofessionals as partners in this process.     

The False Consensus Effect in Unfavorable (Suicide) and Favorable (Honor) Events1

According to the false consensus effect (FCE), people view their own judgments, choices, and characteristics as common; judgments, choices, and characteristics which are not their own are viewed as uncommon and deviant. To test the FCE both for unfavorable and favorable characteristics and for positive and negative events, 135 undergraduate subjects were divided into four groups based on median splits of their self-attributions of intelligence and psychological disturbance. They then read a history about a 19-year old youth who either committed suicide or received an honor and they rated the youth and both parents on psychological disturbance and intelligence. Subjects who viewed themselves as relatively intelligent viewed others as relatively intelligent, whereas subjects who viewed themselves as relatively psychologically disturbed viewed others as relatively disturbed. These results partially support the FCE as opposed to attributive projection. It may be helpful to explain these results to bereaved families so that they can better understand and anticipate the reactions of others.     

Word frequency,articulatory suppression and memory span

Watkins (1977) found memory span was longer when first and second halves of lists contained high- and low-frequency words, respectively, than when low-frequency words preceded high. One of the four experiments reported here failed to replicate this finding and found that articulatory suppression had a greater detrimental effect on span for high- than for low-frequency words. Another experiment showed that high-frequency words similar to those used by Watkins were easier to articulate than low-frequency words. In the third experiment articulatory suppression did not differentially affect delayed recall of high- and low-frequency words. The fourth experiment showed span for high- and low-frequency words was influenced in a similar way when encouraging subjects to maintain words from either early or late serial positions by articulatory rehearsal. It is concluded that differences in the strategies adopted to maintain words in the articulatory rehearsal loop can account for inconsistencies in the results obtained here and in previous experiments.     

A work commitment typology of sales representatives in the college textbook industry

The paper presents the results of an empirical study designed to develop a work commitment typology of sales representatives based on the combination of scores for job involvement and organizational commitment. Four types are identified and profiled: the totally involved, the organizational prone, the job prone, and the unattached. A multiple discriminant analysis suggests the sales representative's view of work-related characteristics to be more useful than personal characteristics in predicting work commitment type. Strategies for influencing the predominant types are provided.