Are cross-cultural comparisons of personality profiles meaningful? Differential item and facet functioning in the Revised NEO Personality Inventory

Measurement invariance is a prerequisite for confident cross-cultural comparisons of personality profiles. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to detect differential item functioning (DIF) in factor loadings and intercepts for the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (P. T. Costa, Jr., & R. R. McCrae, 1992) in comparisons of college students in the United States (N = 261), Philippines (N = 268), and Mexico (N = 775). About 40%-50% of the items exhibited some form of DIF and item-level noninvariance often carried forward to the facet level at which scores are compared. After excluding DIF items, some facet scales were too short or unreliable for cross-cultural comparisons, and for some other facets, cultural mean differences were reduced or eliminated. The results indicate that considerable caution is warranted in cross-cultural comparisons of personality profiles.     

Parkinson's disease differentially affects adaptation to gradual as compared to sudden visuomotor distortions

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have difficulties in movement adaptation to optimize performance in novel environmental contexts such as altered screen cursor-hand relationships. Prior studies have shown that the time course of the distortion differentially affects visuomotor adaptation to screen cursor rotations, suggesting separate mechanisms for gradual and sudden adaptation. Moreover, studies in human and non-human primates suggest that adaptation to sudden kinematic distortions may engage the basal ganglia, whereas adaptation to gradual kinematic distortions involves cerebellar structures. In the present studies, participants were patients with PD, who performed center-out pointing movements, using either a digitizer tablet and pen or a computer trackball, under normal or rotated screen cursor feedback conditions. The initial study tested patients with PD using a cross-over experimental design for adaptation to gradual as compared with sudden rotated hand-screen cursor relationships and revealed significant after-effects for the gradual adaptation task only. Consistent with these results, findings from a follow-up experiment using a trackball that required only small finger movements showed that patients with PD adapt better to gradual as against sudden perturbations, when compared to age-matched healthy controls. We conclude that Parkinson’s disease affects adaptation to sudden visuomotor distortions but spares adaptation to gradual distortions.     

Full naming with bi-dimensional abstract stimuli in six-year-old children

The aim of this study was to evaluate a procedure to reveal the emergence of full naming in typically developing children. In Experiment 1, five 6-year-old children (a) learned tacts of pictures and the emergence of the selection of these pictures upon hearing their names was tested; and (b) the selection of other pictures was taught and the emergence of the tacts was tested. All children showed the emergence of picture selection and 3 children showed the emergence of the tacts. In Experiment 2a, the children's correct repetition of the names of 3 pictures was verified first, then the experimenter presented the pictures with their names without requiring any behavior other than attending. Finally, the emergence of picture selection and the tacts was tested. Experiment 2b replicated Experiment 2a with words that were easier to pronounce. Picture selection and the tacts emerged; this performance documented full naming for the first time with typically developing children. These procedures can be used to induce naming capacity in children who lack it; hence, they can be applied to teach children with learning delays.     

Dispositional optimism, pessimism and realism in technological potential entrepreneurs

Optimism has been classically considered a key trait in entrepreneurs' personality but it has been studied from a psychological point of view only in recent years. The main aim of this research is to study the relationship between dispositional optimism, pessimism and realism as a function of the tendency to create technology-based businesses. A sample of undergraduate students (n= 205) filled in an electronic questionnaire containing the Life Orientation Test-Revised after they were classified as potential technological entrepreneurs, potential general entrepreneurs and non-potential entrepreneurs. Our results show that technology-based entrepreneurs are more optimistic than non-potential entrepreneurs, whereas there were no statistical differences in pessimism and realism. The results are interpreted theoretically to define the potential entrepreneur and, from an applied perspective, to design training programmes to support future technological entrepreneurs.     

Development and validation of a Spanish version of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, ACSI-28

This study involved the translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28) for a Spanish-speaking sport environment. The sample was made up of 1,253 Spanish athletes, 967 males and 286 females. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the 7-factor structure found in the English version was replicated in the Spanish translation in both males and females. Likewise, the reliability coefficients were similar to those of the English version, with values exceeding .80 for the total score. Several of the subscales correlated positively with sports experience and performance level. The Spanish version of the ACSI-28 thus maintains the factor structure of the original and exhibits similar psychometric properties. Consequently, it can reliably be applied to Spanish-speaking athletes for research and evaluation purposes.     

Implementation of training programs in self-regulated learning strategies in Moodle format: results of a experience in higher education

This paper tests the efficacy of an intervention program in virtual format intended to train studying and self-regulation strategies in university students. The aim of this intervention is to promote a series of strategies which allow students to manage their learning processes in a more proficient and autonomous way. The program has been developed in Moodle format and hosted by the Virtual Campus of the University of Oviedo. The present study had a semi-experimental design, included an experimental group (n=167) and a control one (n=206), and used pretest and posttest measures (self-regulated learning strategies' declarative knowledge, self-regulated learning macro-strategy planning-execution-assessment, self-regulated learning strategies on text, surface and deep learning approaches, and academic achievement). Data suggest that the students enrolled in the training program, comparing with students in the control group, showed a significant improvement in their declarative knowledge, general and on text use of learning strategies, increased their deep approach to learning, decreased their use of a surface approach and, in what concerns to academic achievement, statistically significant differences have been found in favour of the experimental group.     

Morphological awareness: development trends and patterns of evolution in kindergarten and primary education

We present a study that investigates changes in the acquisition and development of morphological awareness in children from 5 to 7 years old. This investigation was carried out on three separate occasions over two academic years, in which morphological awareness was assessed according to two levels. The data indicate an increase in the morphological awareness development from the kindergarten to primary education, verifying the acquisition in the first instance of the morphological judgment level and secondly, of morphological production level. It also generates a pattern of acquisition of the various parameters that make up morphology.     

Self-concept and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence

This study analyses the relationship between a multidimensional measure of self-concept, Self-concept Form-5 Questionnaire (AF5), and a broad set of adolescents' psychosocial adjustment indicators. From the responses of 1,281 participants (53.7% females) aged 12 to 17 years ( M = 14.98 years, SD = 1.74 years), results indicated that higher self-concept scores corresponded to better psychological adjustment, good personal skills and fewer behavioral problems. Although a positive relationship between social self-concept and drug use was found, this significant relationship disappeared once the adolescent's age and sex was controlled for. These results support the idea that the self-concept is a basic theoretical construct closely related to the psychosocial adjustment in adolescence. Also this study helps explain some contradictory results reported in the literature (i.e., a positive relationship between social self-concept and drug use), by showing how the statistical control of a third variable effect (i.e., age) avoids reaching conclusions based on spurious relationships.     

Authentic leadership. Concept and validation of the ALQ in Spain

This study presents the validation of the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) in a sample of more than 600 Spanish employees. This questionnaire measures four distinct but related substantive components of authentic leadership. These components are: self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective. Structural equation modeling confirmed that the Spanish version of ALQ has high reliability and predictive validity for important leadership outputs such as perceived effectiveness of leadership, followers' extra effort and satisfaction with the leader.     

Factor structure and reliability of the Spanish adaptation of the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale--Self Report (CY-BOCS-SR)

The aim of this study was the adaptation to Spanish of the ?Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale--Self Report? (CY-BOCS-SR), one of the most frequently utilized scales in the assessment of obsessive-compulsive behaviors. After its translation to Spanish, its factor invariance in boys and girls, reliability, and relationship with the children's age were examined. Lastly, normative data for this Spanish version are presented. The sample comprised 1,706 children and adolescents from the general population. Results show that the factor composition of the CY-BOCS-SR does not present a very good fit to the usual scoring of three scales were observed: Obsession Severity, Compulsion Severity, and total score. Results also show that the factor validity and reliability of the CY-BOCS-SR improve remarkably if items related to Resistance to Obsessions and Compulsions are considered a different factor from Severity. It is concluded that the Spanish version of the CY-BOCS-SR has similar psychometric characteristics as the original English version.