Item-response theory modeling of IQ gains (the Flynn effect) on crystallized intelligence: Rodgers' hypothesis yes,Brand's hypothesis perhaps

Potential explanations for generational intelligence test score gains continue to be subject to intense debate and scrutiny in the scientific community. However, the explanatory value of some of the proposed causes remains difficult to determine, since only little empirical evidence is available. To clarify the role of two scarcely investigated theories accounting for the Flynn effect, this study set out to examine the role of changing test-taking behavior (Brand's hypothesis) and of a narrowing of the IQ ability distribution (Rodgers' hypothesis). Archival records of crystallized intelligence test performance over a time-span of 17 years of a large number of psychiatric inpatients and outpatients in Austria were investigated (N = 5445; 1978–94). This sample was particularly suitable to investigate our hypotheses since participants were under no pressure to perform which makes observed changes in test taking behavior attributable to personal style and ability rather than differential performance in pressure situations. Analytical approaches of both classical test theory and item response theory (IRT) yielded gains of 1.0 to 2.4 IQ points per decade. Test-taking behavior indicative of guessing and decreasing population IQ variability appeared to contribute both to IQ test score gains. IRT-based analyses showed that gains were largely preserved when controlling for highest educational qualification, while the test instrument showed measurement invariance between cohorts. However, IRT-based results also suggested that changes in test-taking behavior might not necessarily reflect increased guessing, but item drift instead. In all, this evidence emphasizes better performance of individuals of the lower tail of the IQ ability distribution in more recent years as one important contributing factor for generational IQ test score gains.     

Facets of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index Among Serbian Youth

Data from factor analytic studies using the Child Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI) suggest that global anxiety sensitivity (AS) is best represented by three or four underlying factors or facets. The aim of this study was to identify facets best representing the CASI structure in its Serbian version. Confirmatory factor analysis was used on data collected from 456 non-referred children in Serbia. A 13-item version of the CASI provided a better fit to the data than the original 18-item version. The four-factor model of the CASI-13 with disease, unsteady, mental incapacitation, and social concerns facets provided the best fits for the data and it was found to be fully invariant (configural, metric, and scalar invariance) across gender and age. Among Serbian children, hierarchical structure was found for a 13-item CASI version with a single higher-order factor of global AS represented by four underlying facets. Future research will consider these AS facets and their role in the development, maintenance, and exacerbation of anxiety symptoms in children.     

Measurement Equivalence/Invariance of the Abusive Supervision Measure Across Workers From Taiwan and the United States

Growing international research interest in negative-leadership behaviors prompts the need to examine whether measures of ineffective leadership developed in the United States are equivalent across countries outside the United States. B. J. Tepper's (2000) abusive supervision measure has been used widely inside and outside the United States and merits research attention on its construct equivalence across different cultural settings. The authors conducted a series of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses to investigate the measurement equivalence of this measure across Taiwan (N = 256) and the United States (N = 389). Configural invariance was established, suggesting that both U.S. and Taiwanese samples perceive abusive supervision as a single-factor concept. Furthermore, the establishment of partial metric invariance and partial scalar invariance suggests that the abusive supervision measure is applicable to crosscultural comparisons in latent means, construct variance, construct covariances, and unstandardized path coefficients with the caution that workers from different cultures calibrate their responses differently when answering some items.     

The Satisfaction With Life Scale: Measurement invariance across immigrant groups

The current study examined measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) across three immigrant groups, namely, immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel, Turkish-Bulgarians, and Turkish-Germans. The results demonstrate measurement invariance of the SWLS across groups. The findings that Turkish-Bulgarian and FSU immigrants in Israel scored significantly lower on the SWLS compared to Turkish-Germans can be explained by assimilative policies in Israel and Bulgaria. In conclusion, our results suggest the SWLS is feasible for cross-cultural comparisons of immigrants of various age groups. Future investigation of measurement invariance over time is needed to use the SWLS in a developmental perspective.     

Processing of compound-word characters in reading Chinese: An eye-movement-contingent display change study

Readers’ eye movements were monitored as they read Chinese two-constituent compound words in sentence contexts. The first compound-word constituent was either an infrequent character with a highly predictable second constituent or a frequent character with an unpredictable second constituent. The parafoveal preview of the second constituent was manipulated, with four preview conditions: identical to the correct form; a semantically related character to the second constituent; a semantically unrelated character to the second constituent; and a pseudocharacter. An invisible boundary was set between the two constituents; when the eyes moved across the boundary, the previewed character was changed to its intended form. The main findings were that preview effects occurred for the second constituent of the compound word. Providing an incorrect preview of the second constituent affected fixations on the first constituent, but only when the second constituent was predictable from the first. The frequency of the initial character of the compound constrained the identity of the second character, and this in turn modulated the extent to which the semantic characteristics of the preview influenced processing of the second constituent and the compound word as a whole. The results are considered in relation to current accounts of Chinese compound-word recognition and the constraint hypothesis of Hyönä, Bertram, and Pollatsek (2004 Hyönä, J., Bertram, R. and Pollatsek, A. 2004. Are long compound words identified serially via their constituents? Evidence from an eye-movement-contingent display change study. Memory & Cognition, 32: 523–532. (doi:10.3758/BF03195844)[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We conclude that word identification in Chinese is flexible, and parafoveal processing of upcoming characters is influenced both by the characteristics of the fixated character and by its relationship with the characters in the parafovea.     

Does body dissatisfaction have the same meaning for males and females? A measurement invariance study

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the psychometric equivalence of body dissatisfaction (BD) between males and females.MethodTwo scales, BD and Drive to Thinness (DT), from the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 were evaluated. The sample was comprised of 1616 adolescent males and 1429 adolescent females. Factorial invariance across gender of two scales was assessed in order to evaluate the equivalence of scores.ResultsThe results showed full invariance for the DT scale items, and partial invariance for BD scale items. The content analysis of the items confirmed that items related to the perception of thighs, stomach and hips showed differential functioning across gender.ConclusionsDifferent representation of the BD construct between males and females was concluded, and caution was recommended in assessing and interpreting BD in male samples with questionnaires designed for women.     

Perception Differences in Ambiguous Forms of Workplace Sexual Harassment: A Comparison between the United States and Turkey

Certain social–sexual behaviors that could be potentially encountered in workplaces are ambiguous in nature and perceiving them as sexual harassment can depend on the culture. With an aim to delineate the overlap and distinctions of sexual harassment perceptions of such behaviors across samples of women university students from Turkey (TR, N = 215) and the United States (US, N = 209), measurement invariance and latent mean differences in perceiving three ambiguous forms; sexist hostility, sexual hostility, and insinuation-of-interest, were examined. It was hypothesized that the US sample would perceive sexist hostility more sexually harassing as sexist workplace discriminatory practices are emphasized as a form of sexual harassment, and that the TR sample would perceive sexual hostility and insinuation-of-interest as more sexually harassing as women in TR operate in a conservative context. Despite similarities in rank ordering, US participants perceived sexist hostility more sexually harassing; insinuation-of-interest and sexual hostility less sexually harassing than Turkish participants, supporting all three hypotheses. There are implications of differing perceptions across cultures for organizations in terms of disseminating awareness via training programs about the forms of sexual harassment (SH) in a local context and for taking account of local findings in shaping the labor code of countries in relation to SH.     

Occupational differences in work engagement: A longitudinal study among eight occupational groups in Norway

The aim of the present study was to explore occupational differences in the experience of engagement both with regard to differences in the level of work engagement as well as in the predicting value of different antecedent variables. Multigroup latent mean analysis was performed on eight different occupational groups in Norway (lawyers, physicians, nurses, teachers, church ministers, bus drivers, and people working in advertising and information technology; N = 3,475). Tests for factorial invariance supported the use of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory scale across occupational groups and that the latent means were comparable across the groups. Results indicated significant occupational differences in the experience of vigor and dedication. The lawyers reported the most vigor and the church ministers the most dedication. Least vigor was reported among the teachers and the advertising group reported to be least dedicated. Cross‐lagged multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis suggested there are different processes behind the development of engagement across occupations. Visualization of how some occupations cluster or differ from each other is important as it might engender theory building and further hypotheses testing.     

对齐法在单因子和三因子多组比较中允许的不等参数率

在传统的多组验证性因子分析中,进行因子均值比较的前提条件是模型满足强测量不变性假设,但该假设在实证研究中很难满足。这时,Asparouhov和Muthén(2014)提出的对齐法是一种可供备选的多组分析法。通过蒙特卡洛模拟研究,探究了在对齐法精确估计模型参数前提下所允许的不等参数率范围。研究发现：在平均组样本量充足,识别算法为固定识别算法等理想状态下,对齐法在单因子模型多组比较中所允许的不等参数率可以是100%;在三因子模型中所允许的不等参数率上限是20%至30%;在此范围内,对齐法允许更多高程度不等参数;在组数目从30、15或9降至3时,对齐法能允许更多的不等参数在模型中。     

Is Measurement Noninvariance a Threat to Inferences Drawn from Randomized Control Trials? Evidence From Empirical and Simulation Studies

Randomized control trials (RCTs) are considered the gold standard when evaluating the impact of psychological interventions, educational programs, and other treatments on outcomes of interest. However, few studies consider whether forms of measurement bias like noninvariance might impact estimated treatment effects from RCTs. Such bias may be more likely to occur when survey scales are utilized in studies and evaluations in ways not supported by validation evidence, which occurs in practice. This study consists of simulation and empirical studies examining whether measurement noninvariance impacts treatment effects from RCTs. Simulation study results demonstrate that bias in treatment effect estimates is mild when the noninvariance occurs between subgroups (e.g., male and female participants), but can be quite substantial when being assigned to control or treatment induces the noninvariance. Results from the empirical study show that surveys used in two federally funded evaluations of educational programs were noninvariant across student age groups.