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.     

Psychopathic personality as a distinctive indicator of severity and persistence for child and youth conduct problems

Conduct problems are among the most discussed behavioral problems during childhood and adolescence. Given their heterogeneity, in recent years, researchers on this topic have called for delineation of early-onset conduct problems on the basis of affective, interpersonal and behavioral traits that resemble adult psychopathy. The present study aims to analyze, from both a cross-sectional and longitudinal perspective, whether early psychopathic traits allow identification of a group of individuals defined by severe and persistent behavioral problems. To achieve this goal, data from a sample of 192 children (aged 6 to 11) were analyzed; from this sample, 133 children were followed-up in a new data collection that took place three years later. From the data obtained with the mCPS and CBCL (parents), and APSD and TRF (teachers), we observed that children who showed early psychopathic traits, also showed greater frequency, severity and persistence of conduct problems. These results suggest the need to take into account the role of psychopathic traits (particularly, affective and interpersonal) as risk factors to delimit the most serious and persistent patterns of externalizing behavior.     

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.     

Bias? Who is Bias? Comments to Dellsén

Philosophia - (Dellsén, Philosophical Studies, 177(12), 3661–3678, 2020) argues that a positivistic defense of science’s objectivity is incoherent because bias in the...     

The Development and Validation of a Family Wellbeing Index for Hong Kong Chinese Families

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Family wellbeing is studied worldwide. However, there is a dearth of studies on the wellbeing of families in Chinese societies such as Hong Kong, nor is there...     

Habituation in anuran tadpoles and the role of risk uncertainty

Animal Cognition - The ability to learn in the context of predation allows prey to respond to threats by adjusting their behavior based on specific information acquired from their current...     

先天视觉经验缺失对颜色认知的影响：一项ERP研究

感觉与认知是否是相互独立的？本研究通过对比先天盲被试与明眼被试在进行物体颜色判断时的行为反应和神经电生理信号变化,探讨视觉经验缺失对颜色认知的影响。结果发现,先天盲被试具有一定的颜色知识,但其水平低于明眼被试;两组被试都出现了由颜色不匹配所诱发的N400效应,且都表现出左半球优势;但是盲人组的N400效应大于明眼组,盲人组的N400反应潜伏期小于明眼组。该结果说明,直接的视觉经验是颜色认知的充分条件而非必要条件。     

Race-Related Differences in the Experiences of Family Members of Persons with Mental Illness Participating in the NAMI Family to Family Education Program

Families play an important role in the lives of individuals with mental illness. Coping with the strain of shifting roles and multiple challenges of caregiving can have a huge impact. Limited information exists regarding race-related differences in families’ caregiving experiences, their abilities to cope with the mental illness of a loved one, or their interactions with mental health service systems. This study examined race-related differences in the experiences of adults seeking to participate in the National Alliance on Mental Illness Family-to-Family Education Program due to mental illness of a loved one. Participants were 293 White and 107 African American family members who completed measures of problem- and emotion-focused coping, knowledge about mental illness, subjective illness burden, psychological distress, and family functioning. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine race-related differences. African American caregivers reported higher levels of negative caregiving experiences, less knowledge of mental illness, and higher levels of both problem-solving coping and emotion-focused coping, than White caregivers. Mental health programs serving African American families should consider targeting specific strategies to address caregiving challenges, support their use of existing coping mechanisms and support networks, and increase their knowledge of mental illness.     

The Medieval Octagon of Opposition for Sentences with Quantified Predicates

The traditional Square of Opposition consists of four sentence types. Two are universal and two particular; two are affirmative and two negative. Examples, where ‘S’ and ‘P’ designate the subject and the predicate, are: ‘every S is P’, ‘no S is P’, ‘some S is P’ and ‘some S is not P’. Taking the usual sentences of the square of opposition, quantifying over their predicates exhibits non-standard sentence forms. These sentences may be combined into non-standard Squares of Opposition (an Octagon in this case), and they reveal a new relationship not found in the usual Square. Medieval logicians termed ‘disparatae’ pairs of sentences like ‘every S is some P’ and ‘some S is every P’, which are neither subaltern nor contrary, neither contradictory nor subcontrary. Walter Redmond has designed a special language L to express the logical form of these sentences in a precise way. I will use this language to show how Squares of Opposition, standard and non-standard, form a complex network of relations which bring to light the subtleties contained in this traditional doctrine.