A Limited Information Estimator for Dynamic Factor Models

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is an increasingly popular method for examining multivariate time series data. As in cross-sectional data analysis, structural misspecification of time series models is inevitable, and further complicated by the fact that errors occur in both the time series and measurement components of the model. In this article, we introduce a new limited information estimator and local fit diagnostic for dynamic factor models within the SEM framework. We demonstrate the implementation of this estimator and examine its performance under both correct and incorrect model specifications via a small simulation study. The estimates from this estimator are compared to those from the most common system-wide estimators and are found to be more robust to the structural misspecifications considered.     

Socially Valued Roles,Self‐Determination,and Community Participation among Individuals Living with Serious Mental Illnesses

Decades after deinstitutionalization, individuals living with serious mental illnesses remain isolated, socially disengaged, and devalued members of communities. Burgeoning research and services need conceptual clarity to improve such social conditions. This qualitative inquiry used grounded theory and participatory approaches to conduct an in‐depth exploration of community participation for individuals living with serious mental illnesses based on key stakeholder perspectives (n = 45). Results revealed that community participation is a multifaceted construct with layers of meaning for individuals living with serious mental illnesses. Overarching themes are contextualized in Self‐Determination Theory and presented with deidentified illustrations. Implications for services, research, and policy are discussed.     

Affordance Types and Affordance Tokens: Are Gibson’s Affordances Trustworthy?†

Late in their paper on hypersets, Chemero and Turvey characterize affordances as “quicksilvery,” prone to rapid appearance and disappearance. We contrast this view with Gibson’s emphasis on the stability of affordances. We argue that this apparent discrepancy can be resolved by appeal to the distinction between affordances as indefinite abstract types and definite affordance tokens (instances of the type that share the resemblance relation). These issues will be discussed in the context of their consistency with ecological realism, where Platonic idealism is eschewed in favor of a more Aristotelian process theory. These ideas will be examined in the broader context of the domain ontology to ensure that Gibson's seminal affordance concept has its greatest theoretical utility. Finally, we develop a process theory of ontological descent by which indefinite affordance possibilities become more definite affordance potentialities and these eventuate in the most definite affordance actualizing actions.     

Conceptualizing Culturally Infused Engagement and Its Measurement for Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Children and Families

Despite the central role culture plays in racial and ethnic disparities in mental health among ethnic minority and immigrant children and families, existing measures of engagement in mental health services have failed to integrate culturally specific factors that shape these families’ engagement with mental health services. To illustrate this gap, the authors systematically review 119 existing instruments that measure the multi-dimensional and developmental process of engagement for ethnic minority and immigrant children and families. The review is anchored in a new integrated conceptualization of engagement, the culturally infused engagement model. The review assesses culturally relevant cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral mechanisms of engagement from the stages of problem recognition and help seeking to treatment participation that can help illuminate the gaps. Existing measures examined four central domains pertinent to the process of engagement for ethnic minority and immigrant children and families: (a) expressions of mental distress and illness, (b) causal explanations of mental distress and illness, (c) beliefs about mental distress and illness, and (d) beliefs and experiences of seeking help. The findings highlight the variety of tools that are used to measure behavioral and attitudinal dimensions of engagement, showing the limitations of their application for ethnic minority and immigrant children and families. The review proposes directions for promising research methodologies to help intervention scientists and clinicians improve engagement and service delivery and reduce disparities among ethnic minority and immigrant children and families at large, and recommends practical applications for training, program planning, and policymaking.     

To trust or not to trust: social decision‐making in post‐institutionalized,internationally adopted youth

Chronic parental maltreatment has been associated with lower levels of interpersonal trust, and depriving environments have been shown to predict short‐sighted, risk‐averse decision‐making. The present study examined whether a circumscribed period of adverse care occurring only early in life was associated with biases in trust behavior. Fifty‐three post‐institutionalized (PI) youth, adopted internationally on average by 1 year of age, and 33 never‐institutionalized, non‐adopted youth (M_age = 12.9 years) played a trust game. Participants decided whether or not to share coins with a different anonymous peer in each trial with the potential to receive a larger number of coins in return. Trials were presented in blocks that varied in the degree to which the peers behaved in a trustworthy (reciprocal) or untrustworthy (non‐reciprocal) manner. A comparison condition consisted of a computerized lottery with the same choices and probabilistic risk as the peer trials. Non‐adopted comparison youth showed a tendency to share more with peers than to invest in the lottery and tended to maintain their level of sharing across trials despite experiencing trials in which peers failed to reciprocate. In contrast, PI children, particularly those who were adopted over 1 year of age, shared less with peers than they invested in the lottery and quickly adapted their sharing behavior to peers’ responses. These results suggest that PI youth were more mistrusting, more sensitive to both defection and reciprocation, and potentially more accurate in their trusting decisions than comparison youth. Results support the presence of a sensitive period for the development of trust in others, whereby conditions early in life may set long‐term biases in decision‐making.     

Parental Stress and Children’s Social and Behavioral Outcomes: The Role of Abuse Potential over Time

Parental stress is a well-established risk factor for adverse child outcomes, including the development of aggression, externalizing behavior problems, and anxiety, as well as compromised emotional coping, impaired social cognition, and diminished treatment response. Abuse potential represents a mechanism by which parental stress may impact child social competence and behavior; evidence links parental stress to abuse potential, and abuse potential to a range of negative child social competence and behavioral outcomes. The current study assessed relationships between parental stress, abuse potential, and child social and behavioral outcomes over time. Parents of children ages 2–6 years (N?=?610, 44% girls) reported on perceived parental stress and attitudes towards abuse and neglect, as well as child social competence and behavior problems, before and after a caregiver-directed, community-based intervention. Changes in parental stress, abuse potential, and child social and behavioral outcomes were examined using panel analyses, while controlling for intervention effects and demographic variables. Parental stress predicted child social competence, anxiety/withdrawal, and anger/aggression over time; while the links between stress and anxiety/withdrawal, and stress and social competence, were mediated by child abuse potential, the link between stress and anger/aggression was not mediated by child abuse potential. Findings suggest that abuse potential represents a mechanism by which parental stress and child social and behavioral outcomes are linked. Further, screening for child social competence deficits may identify children at risk for abuse, as well as parents in need of services to reduce stress.