Cross-cultural validation of a French version of the Emotional Processing Scale (EPS-25)

IntroductionThe Emotional Processing Scale (EPS) is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 25 items designed to identify emotional processing styles and impairments. The aim was to develop a French version of the scale and to test its preliminary validity and reliability in French community and clinical samples.MethodAfter translation and back-translation, a validation study was conducted with 1176 adults [215 from a community sample, 251 undergraduate psychology students, 686 people with a range of physical health conditions (HIV, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, leukaemia) and 24 people with bipolar disorder hospitalised for depression].ResultsThe internal reliability of the French EPS was good, with a Cronbach's alpha of .91. The five-factor structure of the original English version of the scale was closely reproduced.ConclusionsThe French EPS demonstrated good reliability and validity. Correlations with other conceptually similar scales (e.g., TAS-20, CERQ, STAXI) were as predicted. EPS scores distinguished between groups (clinical samples vs. a community sample) that would be expected to differ.     

Differentiation Between School Attendance Problems: Why and How?

School attendance problems (SAPs) are heterogeneous with respect to etiology and presentation. The long history of conceptualizing SAPs has led to a vast array of terms and definitions as well as different perspectives on the most helpful approach to classification. For educators, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers, this presents a challenge in understanding, assessing, and intervening with SAPs. This paper outlines evolution in the conceptualization of SAPs, focusing on two contemporary approaches to differentiating between them. One approach draws on the longstanding differentiation between SAP types labeled school refusal, truancy, and school withdrawal. A fourth type of SAP, labeled school exclusion, is also considered. The other approach focuses on the function of absenteeism, measured via the School Refusal Assessment Scale (SRAS). Anecdotal and scientific support for the SAP typology is presented, along with the benefits and shortcomings of the SRAS approach to differentiation. The paper offers suggestions for how to differentiate between SAPs and introduces the SNACK, a brief screening measure that permits differentiation by SAP type.     

Positivity is an up‐to‐date predictor of well‐functioning instead of a eudaemon

Summing up the process of conceptualization of positive orientation theory (POT), the results of empirical studies which confirmed its validity, the operationalization of the positive orientation as a personality disposition in the Positivity Scale (PS), and the verification of the scale responsibility and empirical validity, it can be established that POT is a very promising, empirically validated theory. The dissemination of the POT and the PS in high‐impact scientific journals is an important contribution to the research on well‐being and in the domains of health psychology and positive psychology as well.     

Functions of Identity in the Context of Being a Student: Development and Validation of the Functions of Student Identity Scale

A promising approach to the understanding of identity is the identity functions framework. However, its developmental specificities associated with adolescence remain unexplored. The aim of this study was to develop and test a new measure of the functions of identity as they relate to being a student. Consistent with the theoretical framework, an exploratory analysis with a subsample of high school students revealed five identity functions. A confirmatory analysis with a second subsample found that a higher-order model incorporating these five subscales demonstrated good fit to the data. A bifactor model and statistical indices indicated that it is appropriate to interpret a total student identity score using this instrument. The five subscales, and total scale, demonstrated good convergent validity with a measure of academic behavioral change. These preliminary results suggest that this new instrument presents good psychometric properties and that it is a suitable assessment instrument for the measurement of students’ processes and outcomes. For example, its associations with academic performance stages of changes suggest that this instrument will be useful for identifying students at risk for poor academic trajectories.     

Factorial invariance,differential item functioning,and norms of the Orgasm Rating Scale

Background/Objective: Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS) assess the subjective orgasm experience in context of sexual relationship. It is composed of four dimensions attributed to the orgasm (Affective, Sensory, Intimacy, and Rewards). The purpose is to analyse the factorial invariance of the ORS across groups, to examine the metric equivalence across sex, and to present the standard scores. Method: A total of 1,472 Spanish adults (715 men and 757 women) were evaluated. They were distributed across age groups (18-34, 35-49 and 50 years old and older). Factorial invariance across different groups and the differential functioning of the items across sex were analyzed, internal consistency was examined, and the standard scores were developed. Results: The structure of the ORS showed strict measurement invariance across sex, relationship status, sexual orientation and education level. It also reached a scalar measurement invariance across age range and duration of the relationship. Some items showed a differential functioning between sexes. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the ORS is invariant across different groups at a factorial level, and it shows equivalence across sex in most of its items at a metric level. The standard scores allow a more accurate assessment of the subjective orgasm experience in context of sexual relationship.     

The Experience in Personal Social Systems Questionnaire (EXIS.pers): Development and Psychometric Properties

This study presents the theoretical background, development, and psychometric properties of the German and English versions of the Experience in Personal Social Systems Questionnaire (EXIS.pers). It assesses how the members of a personal social system experience their situation within that system. It is designed as a research tool for interventions in which only one member of the system participates (e.g., Family Constellation Seminars). The EXIS.pers was created to measure change on the individual level relating to one's own important personal social system. In Study 1, we used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for latent variable identification of the original German EXIS.pers (n = 179). In Studies 2 and 3, we used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the dimensionality of the German (n = 634) and English (n = 310) EXIS.pers. Internal consistencies and cross‐cultural structural equivalence were assessed. EFA indicated that a four‐factor model provided best fit for the German EXIS.pers. For both the German and English EXIS.pers, CFA provided the best fit for a five‐factor bi‐level model that included a general factor (Experience In Personal Social Systems) and four dimensions (Belonging, Autonomy, Accord, Confidence). Good internal consistencies, external associations, and cross‐cultural structural equivalence were demonstrated. This study provides first evidence for the German and English EXIS.pers as an economical and reliable measure of an individual's experience within his or her personal social systems.     

Measuring the personality of Chinese: QZPS versus NEO PI-R

The response patterns of Chinese subjects to the items and facets of NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO PI-R) were investigated. The Big Five-factor structure underlying this instrument was not found, while a seven-factor structure, more recently proposed to represent the Chinese personality, emerged. A cross-cultural strategy was adopted to analyze these results and mechanisms through which culture influences personality, behavioral categories and specific behaviors were proposed. The results showed that the Big Seven model of Chinese personality was stable and Western personality questionnaires could not accurately measure the personality characteristics of the Chinese.     

"申池"考辨

“申池”是齐国苑围,魏晋以来,遗址失考。由于杜预一个“疑是齐都申门左右水池”的猜测,后来编人《康熙字典》《辞源》据以为真,遂成定论。根据《史记》《左传》《孟子》等大量相关资料的分析,实际地理位置环境条件、地方和村落名称、地下发掘等因素的多方考证。证明这一结论是错误的。“申池”是一个颇具规模的苑围,在当时的时水——现在乌河上游,以临淄区凤凰镇申桥为中心的方圆数十里的乌河流域地带。     

On the (numerical) ranking associated with any finite binary relation

We generalize the concept of a ‘ranking associated with a linear order’ from linear orders to arbitrary finite binary relations. Using the concept of differential of an object in a binary relation as theoretical primitive, we axiomatically introduce several measurement scales, some of which include the generalized ranking as a special case. We provide a computational formula for this generalized ranking, discuss its many elegant properties and offer some illustrating examples.