Using Personality Item Characteristics to Predict Single‐Item Internal Reliability,Retest Reliability,and Self–Other Agreement

The use of reliability estimates is increasingly scrutinized as scholars become more aware that test–retest stability and self–other agreement provide a better approximation of the theoretical and practical usefulness of an instrument than its internal reliability. In this study, we investigate item characteristics that potentially impact single‐item internal reliability, retest reliability, and self–other agreement. Across two large samples (N = 6690 and N = 4396), two countries (Estonia and The Netherlands), and two personality inventories (the NEO PI‐3 and the HEXACO‐PI‐R), results show that (i) item variance is a strong predictor of self–other agreement and retest reliability but not of single‐item internal reliability; (ii) item variance mediates the relations between evaluativeness and self–other agreement; and (iii) self–other agreement is predicted by observability and item domain. On the whole, weak relations between item length, negations, and item position (indicating effects of questionnaire length) on the one hand, and single‐item internal reliability, retest reliability, and self–other agreement on the other, were observed. In order to increase the predictive validity of personality scales, our findings suggest that during the construction of questionnaire items, researchers are advised to pay close attention especially to item variance, but also to evaluativeness and observability. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Parent vs. Self-Report: Contributions Toward Diagnosis of Adolescent Psychopathology

Assessment of psychopathology in adolescents can be complicated due to uncertainties about who should be considered the primary informant. While a multimethod, multiinformant approach to assessment allows for a thorough assessment, it can also result in contradictory findings. The purpose of this study was to use a sample of 121 adolescents to investigate issues of parent-adolescent agreement on behavior rating scales and a structured diagnostic interview. Additionally, this study evaluated whether adolescent report offers unique information to the assessment beyond the parent's report. The sample included both normal controls and adolescents who met criteria for diagnosis of an Internalizing or Externalizing disorder based on the DSM-IV criteria. Agreement between parents and adolescents on the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents—Revised (DICA-R) was low for ADHD (39.4%) and Externalizing Disorders (41.1%) and moderate for Internalizing Disorders (56.6%). A significant difference was found between the number of ADHD symptoms reported, with parents reporting more symptoms (M = 9.42) than adolescents (M = 8.34). Regression analysis indicated that the adolescent completed Youth Self-report (YSR) contributed unique information beyond the parent completed measures in predicting both the adolescent and the parent interviews for Internalizing Disorders. This finding emphasizes the need to continue to collect self-report information, especially when assessing Internalizing disorders, which inherently contain symptoms indicating high-risk behaviors such as suicide ideation.     

Measurement of depression: Comparison between self-reports and clinical assessments of depressed outpatients

Agreement among several depression scales was investigated as regard the relative influences of administration mode (self-rating or clinical rating) and scale content. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), and three corresponding scales with identical structure and content but the alternative administration mode were administered to 47 outpatients with diagnoses of DSM-III major depression disorders. Correlations between the total scores and the degrees of association between corresponding items of different scales were calculated. The results suggest that differences in content contribute more to inter-scale discrepancy than differences in administration mode. The implications for the evaluation of outpatients with major depression are discussed.     

Effects of the use of percentage agreement on behavioral observation reliabilities: A reassessment

The percentage agreement index has been and continues to be a popular measure of interobserver reliability in applied behavior analysis and child development, as well as in other fields in which behavioral observation techniques are used. An algebraic method and a linear programming method were used to assess chance-corrected reliabilities for a sample of past observations in which the percentage agreement index was used. The results indicated that, had kappa been used instead of percentage agreement, between one-fourth and three-fourth of the reported observations could be judged as unreliable against a lenient criterion and between one-half and three-fourths could be judged as unreliable against a more stringent criterion. It is suggested that the continued use of the percentage agreement index has seriously undermined the reliabilities of past observations and can no longer be justified in future studies.     

CONTINUOUS RECORDING AND INTEROBSERVER AGREEMENT ALGORITHMS REPORTED IN THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS (1995–2005)

We reviewed all research articles in 10 recent volumes of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA): Vol. 28(3), 1995, through Vol. 38(2), 2005. Continuous recording was used in the majority (55%) of the 168 articles reporting data on free‐operant human behaviors. Three methods for reporting interobserver agreement (exact agreement, block‐by‐block agreement, and time‐window analysis) were employed in more than 10 of the articles that reported continuous recording. Having identified these currently popular agreement computation algorithms, we explain them to assist researchers, software writers, and other consumers of JABA articles.     

手术协议中的医生义务

手术协议是外科最常见和病历资料中必不可少的医疗文书之一,是手术前医患双方充分交流、沟通的平台,也是患者行使知情同意权和医生履行法律义务的载体。手术协议中体现了四种医生义务：谨慎注意、积极预见、充分告知和取得同意。     

Looking the past in the eye: Distortion in memory and the costs and benefits of recalling from an observer perspective

Jordi Fernández (2015) discusses the possible benefits of two types of allegedly distorted memories: observer memories and fabricated memories. Fernández argues that even when memory does not preserve the past, some memories can still provide an adaptive benefit for the subject. I explore Fernández’s claims focussing on the case of observer perspective memories. For Fernández, observer perspectives are distorted memories because they do not preserve past experience. In contrast, I suggest that observer perspectives can accurately reflect past experience: observer perspectives are not necessarily distorted memories. By looking at the complexity of the relation between remembering trauma from an observer perspective and emotional closure, I also sound a note of caution against Fernández’s assertion that observer memories of trauma can be adaptively beneficial. Finally, I suggest that because observer perspectives are not necessarily distorted, but involve a distinct way of thinking about one’s past, such memories can be epistemically beneficial.     

Exploring Child and Parent Factors in the Diagnostic Agreement on the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule

Worryingly low levels of parent–child agreement on child psychiatric diagnosis are reported. This study examined parent–child agreement on diagnostic categories and severity ratings with the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule, Child and Parents versions (ADIS-C/P). Children’s age, gender, motivation and self-concept and parent’s general psychopathology and diagnoses were examined. Participants were 110 children (aged 8–14 years) with a principal specific phobia diagnosis, and their parents. Findings revealed excellent parent–child agreement on principal specific phobia diagnosis (97.3%), and fair levels of concordance on most co-occurring secondary diagnoses. As expected, children with high motivation had generally stronger parent–child agreement on diagnoses and severity ratings (for ADHD p?p?p?相似文献