The development and initial validation of the Fatigue Sensitivity Questionnaire

ABSTRACT

Currently, there is poor understanding of fatigue and the possible psychological conditions that may underlie chronic fatigue. Although substantial work has been directed to better clinically address fatigue, no work has explored individual differences in expectations or perceptions of the negative consequences associated with fatigue-related symptoms. The goals of this study were to (a) develop and (b) validate a measure of expectations or perceptions of the negative consequences associated with fatigue-related symptoms (e.g. fatigue sensitivity) across two independent samples (N = 1,827; 73.1% female; M_age = 21.68; SD = 4.54) of young adults. Results supported a 10-item measure of fatigue sensitivity, entitled the Fatigue Sensitivity Questionnaire (FSQ). The FSQ demonstrated unidimensionality, excellent internal consistency, and strong convergent and discriminant validity. Overall, the 10-item scale offers a single score that can be employed to measure fatigue sensitivity. Clinically, the FSQ may be a brief, informative, and easily disseminated measure in better understanding and capturing expectations or perceptions about the negative consequences of fatigue. As a research tool, the use of the FSQ may provide broader understanding of vulnerability factors that may influence fatigue-related health outcomes. Future research is needed to test the validity of the FSQ in other samples.     

A Generalized Strategy for Measuring Performance in the Velocity-Position Phase Plane

Subjects pressed a key down as fast as possible but controlled the response duration of the keypress. The task required long (300 ±100 msec) and short (150±50 msec) durations in both simple (long only or short only) and choice (mixed long and short) conditions. Choice reaction time was slower than simple reaction time, but reaction time for long and short durations did not differ significantly for either simple or choice conditions. This finding fails to support a study by Klapp, Wyatt, and Lingo (1974) which found reaction time differences between long and short durations for choice but not simple conditions.     

How Do Propensity Score Methods Measure Up in the Presence of Measurement Error? A Monte Carlo Study

Considering that the absence of measurement error in research is a rare phenomenon and its effects can be dramatic, we examine the impact of measurement error on propensity score (PS) analysis used to minimize selection bias in behavioral and social observational studies. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to explore the effects of measurement error on the treatment effect and balance estimates in PS analysis across seven different PS conditioning methods. In general, the results indicate that even low levels of measurement error in the covariates lead to substantial bias in estimates of treatment effects and concomitant reduction in confidence interval coverage across all methods of conditioning on the PS.     

Reliability and Validity of Single-Item Self-Reports: With Special Relevance to College Students' Alcohol Use,Religiosity, Study,and Social Life

The authors tested the assumption that single-item measures have unacceptably low reliability and validity. On 2 occasions 11 weeks apart, college students reported on the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, 2 religious behaviors, time of study and of socializing (focal items), and other qualities and characteristics. Most test-retest reliabilities were good to excellent; objective facts were more reliable than subjective evaluations; and target items had good validity when correlated with 2-week nightly log records of corresponding behaviors in a multimethod multitrait matrix. The exception was self-reported study, with relatively low reliability and validity, suggesting the non-trait-like quality of this behavior. Single-item measures may be better than commonly thought.     

Ad hoc Reviewers for the Journal of Motor Behavior

The study of sign languages provides a promising vehicle for investigating language production because the movements of the articulators in sign are directly observable. Movement of the hands and arms is an essential element not only in the lexical structure of American Sign Language (ASL), but most strikingly, in the grammatical structure of ASL: It is in patterned changes of the movement of signs that many grammatical attributes are represented. The “phonological? (formational) structure of movement in ASL surely reflects in part constraints on the channel through which it is conveyed. We evaluate the relation between one neuromotor constraint on movement–regulation of final position rather than of movement amplitude–and the phonological structure of movement in ASL. We combine three-dimensional measurements of ASL movements with linguistic analyses of the distinctiveness and predictability of the final position (location) versus the amplitude (length). We show that final position, not movement amplitude, is distinctive in the language and that a phonological rule in ASL predicts variation in movement amplitude–a development which may reflect a neuromuscular constraint on the articulatory mechanism through which the language is conveyed.     

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.     

认知负荷主观评价量表比较

运用双任务实验范式,比较了三种认知负荷主观评价量表的灵敏度与效度。结果发现：在本研究任务条件下,次任务反应时的稳定性、抗干扰性较好,可以作为认知负荷主观评价的标尺;WP量表与PAAS量表的敏感性均较好,其中WP量表的敏感性、诊断性高于后者,TLX量表的敏感性较弱;WP量表与PAAS量表的效度较好,且好于TLX量表。综合各项指标,在中低难度任务下,WP量表是目前认知负荷较为理想的测量工具。     

Work engagement and workaholism: comparing the self-employed and salaried employees

This study among a Dutch convenience sample of self-employed individuals (n = 262) and salaried employees (n = 1900) tested to what extent workaholism and work engagement relate to self-reported work performance. After controlling for measurement inequivalence, results of structural equation modeling showed that the self-employed score higher on engagement and working excessively then employees, but not on working compulsively. In addition, work engagement related positively to task performance and innovativeness for both groups. However, engagement only related to contextual performance (performance beyond role requirements) for employees. Workaholism had positive and negative relationships with self-reported performance. Working excessively related positively to innovativeness for both groups, and to contextual performance for the self-employed. Working compulsively suppressed this positive relationship between excessive working and innovativeness in both groups, and between excessive working and contextual performance for the self-employed. In contrast to our expectations, working compulsively related positively to contextual performance for employees.     

Emotion regulation in leader–follower relationships

This study investigates the extent to which leaders and followers express, suppress or fake their emotions during interaction, using a sample of 135 leaders and 207 followers. The respondents completed questionnaires on emotion regulation, the relationship quality between leaders and followers (LMX), job satisfaction, and health complaints. The data indicate that negative emotions such as disappointment, uncertainty, and annoyance are typically suppressed, while positive emotions such as enthusiasm, interest, and calmness are typically expressed or faked. The reported level of emotion regulation was higher for leaders than for followers. Suppressing and faking emotions correlated negatively with the LMX and job satisfaction, and positively with health complaints among both groups. Emotion regulation is thus a prominent and complex facet of leader – follower relationships with possible negative effects for both leaders and followers.     

Religiosity and posttraumatic growth: a note concerning the problems of confounding in their measurement and the inclusion of religiosity within the definition of posttraumatic growth

The aim of this comment is to: (1) draw researcher's attention to the problem of confounding in studies assessing both religiosity and posttraumatic growth; and (2) call for research to separately investigate spirituality in the aftermath of trauma rather than as part of the posttraumatic growth construct.