Multilevel Factor Analysis: Reporting Guidelines and a Review of Reporting Practices

We provide reporting guidelines for multilevel factor analysis (MFA) and use these guidelines to systematically review 72 MFA applications in journals across a range of disciplines (e.g., education, health/nursing, management, and psychology) published between 1994 and 2014. Results are organized in terms of the (a) characteristics of the MFA application (e.g., construct measured), (b) purpose (e.g., measurement validation), (c) data source (e.g., number of cases at Level 1 and Level 2), (d) statistical approach (e.g., maximum likelihood), and (e) results reported (e.g., intraclass correlations for indicators and latent variables, standardized factor loadings, fit indices). Results from this review have implications for applied researchers interested in expanding their approaches to psychometric analyses and construct validation within a multilevel framework and for methodologists using Monte Carlo methods to explore technical and methodological issues grounded in realistic research design conditions.     

Stress and emotional valence effects on children's versus adolescents’ true and false memory

Despite considerable interest in understanding how stress influences memory accuracy and errors, particularly in children, methodological limitations have made it difficult to examine the effects of stress independent of the effects of the emotional valence of to-be-remembered information in developmental populations. In this study, we manipulated stress levels in 7–8- and 12–14-year-olds and then exposed them to negative, neutral, and positive word lists. Shortly afterward, we tested their recognition memory for the words and false memory for non-presented but related words. Adolescents in the high-stress condition were more accurate than those in the low-stress condition, while children's accuracy did not differ across stress conditions. Also, among adolescents, accuracy and errors were higher for the negative than positive words, while in children, word valence was unrelated to accuracy. Finally, increases in children's and adolescents’ cortisol responses, especially in the high-stress condition, were related to greater accuracy but not false memories and only for positive emotional words. Findings suggest that stress at encoding, as well as the emotional content of to-be-remembered information, may influence memory in different ways across development, highlighting the need for greater complexity in existing models of true and false memory formation.     

Examining the role of emotional valence of mind wandering: All mind wandering is not equal

To evaluate the role of emotional valence on the impact of mind wandering on working memory (WM) and sustained attention, we reanalyzed data from three independently conducted studies that examined the impact of stress on WM (Banks & Boals, 2016; Banks, Welhaf, & Srour, 2015) and sustained attention (Banks, Tartar, & Welhaf, 2014). Across all studies, participants reported the content of their thoughts at random intervals during the WM or sustained attention task. Thought probes in all studies included a core set of response options for task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) that were negatively, positively, or neutrally emotionally valenced. In line with theories of emotional valenced stimuli on capture of attention, results suggest negatively valenced TUTs, but not positively valenced TUTs, were related to poorer WM and sustained attention in two studies. Neutral TUTs were related to poorer WM but not sustained attention performance. Implications for models of mind wandering are discussed.     

Reflection in asynchronous online postsecondary courses: a reflective review of the literature

Reflection is a term which appears often in the discourse of online postsecondary education, where it is typically offered as the key to ‘deep learning’. However, although researchers agree that reflection is a vital aspect of online learning, and even that new technologies can promote reflection, there is a surprising lack of clarity about what reflection actually means in e-learning contexts. This paper reports on a survey of the literature on reflection in online postsecondary learning for the years 2000–2015. Reading, rereading and reflecting on the 46 articles, papers and theses that met the search criteria, the author found that studies on the topic tend to be based on diverse, vague and questionable understandings about what reflection entails. A major implication is that, lacking a clear understanding of what is being studied, research can only yield inconclusive findings about the strategies that prompt and support students’ reflection in online postsecondary education.     

奖赏结构与结果效价对男女儿童成就归因的影响

本研究的目的是考察奖赏结构和结果效价对男女儿童归因风格的影响.被试为小学五年级学生(n=74,男生36人,女生38人),实验通过解决一系列迷津测验来创设成功和失败情境.研究结果表明,能力、运气归因存在性别差异,在竞争奖赏结构条件下,女生对成就状况倾向于做运气归因,而男生倾向于做运气以外其他因素的归因(如能力);在非竞争奖赏结构条件下,男生对成就状况倾向于做运气归因,而女生倾向于做运气以外其他因素的归因.此外,还发现了一些其他的显著效应.     

阈上和阈下不同情绪线索对返回抑制的影响

为检验返回抑制是否受线索生物学意义的调节, 分别在实验一和实验二中以阈上和阈下不同情绪效价(高兴、生气和中性)的面孔为外源性线索, 变化同时提示位置的多寡, 要求被试对靶子尽可能快而准地作探测反应。实验一发现, 三种线索情况下均出现返回抑制且效应量无显著差异; 实验二发现, 线索为中性面孔时出现返回抑制, 线索为高兴和生气面孔时未出现返回抑制。说明返回抑制受线索生物学意义的调节。阈下线索的生物学意义(情绪效价)能得到自动加工, 从而影响空间注意的转移和返回抑制机制的功用; 阈上线索的情绪效价被清晰感知时, 自上而下的注意控制机制使线索的生物学意义被忽略, 从而阻碍情绪效价功能的发挥。     

Investigating the myth of the relationship between teaching and research in higher education: A review of empirical research

Despite the widespread belief in a positive influence of research on education, the empirical evidence is lacking (Hattie and Marsh 1996). Several authors have questioned the appropriateness of the operationalisation of both aspects of the relation between teaching and research. This article takes a closer look at the research questions in empirical studies on the nexus between teaching and research and examines the used variables and their measurement techniques. The study reveals that the used variables and their operationalisation are diverse as well as limited. There is for example a diversity in the investigated population, the level of analysis (individual faculty, department, institutions), the nature of the institutions investigated or the questionnaires used. The operationalisation of both teaching and research is limited. Student learning or the way research is integrated into teaching are virtually absent and the measurement of research is mostly confined to the quantity of the research output. This calls for a more systematic research agenda in which student learning is investigated along with more fine grained measures of teaching and in which the relation of these two indicators and the research proficiency of faculty are looked at.     

印象形成中社会知觉信息效价冲突的认知控制效应

当个体信息与类别信息同时呈现时,个体的自我控制资源与信息效价产生交互作用,且共同影响他人印象形成的认知控制策略和信息加工深度。为进一步探究这一现象所产生的印象控制效应,采用自我控制资源损耗任务将96名被试随机分为高损耗组和低损耗组,并让他们完成内隐联想测验,以考察个体信息与类别信息的效价冲突时,他人印象控制策略如何受到自我控制资源与信息效价的双重影响。结果发现:(1)个体信息与类别信息的印象控制依赖于自我控制资源。(2)自我控制资源损耗与信息效价类型存在显著的交互作用。当个体损耗了较多的自我控制资源后,对效价冲突的个体信息与类别信息进行印象加工时,消极刻板印象的激活因受到这两类效价冲突信息的限制,只能依赖实时更新的面部表情信息,从而形成自下而上的反应性控制; 当个体损耗的自我控制资源较少时,对同样的个体信息与类别信息,不论效价相容或冲突,均能保持对消极刻板印象的自动激活,从而导致自上而下的主动性控制。     

Epidemiological considerations in transgender health: A systematic review with focus on higher quality data

Abstract

Background: High quality data pertaining to the size of the transgender and gender diverse (TGD) population are scant, however, several recently published studies may provide more reliable contemporary estimates.

Aims: To summarize the estimated number and proportion of TGD individuals overall and across age groups, based on most accurate data.

Methods: This systematic review focused on recent studies (published from 2009 through 2019) that utilized sound methodology in assessing the proportion of TGD people in the general population. Publications were included if they used clear definitions of TGD status, and calculated proportions based on a well-defined sampling frame. Nineteen eligible publications represented two broad categories of studies: those that used data from large health care systems; and those that identified TGD individuals from population surveys.

Results: Among health system-based studies, TGD persons were identified using relevant diagnostic codes or clinical notes. The proportions of individuals with a TGD-relevant diagnosis or other recorded evidence ranged between 17 and 33 per 100,000 enrollees. In population surveys TGD status was ascertained based on self-report with either narrow or broad definitions. The survey-based estimates were orders of magnitude higher and consistent across studies using similar definitions. When the surveys specifically inquired about ‘transgender’ identity, the estimates ranged from 0.3% to 0.5% among adults, and from 1.2% to 2.7% among children and adolescents. When the definition was expanded to include broader manifestations of ‘gender diversity’, the corresponding proportions increased to 0.5-4.5% among adults and 2.5-8.4% among children and adolescents. Upward temporal trends in the proportion of TGD people were consistently observed.

Conclusions: Current data indicate that people who self-identify as TGD represent a sizable and increasing proportion of the general population. This proportion may differ, depending on inclusion criteria, age, and geographic location, but well-conducted studies of similar type and design tend to produce comparable results.