European Journal of Psychological Assessment

This study provides evidence that an Italian version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) is a reliable and valid self-report measure. In an Italian sample (N = 600), the PANAS showed solid psychometric properties, and several American findings with the PANAS were replicated. The replicability of the PANAS factor structure was confirmed by high congruence coefficients between the American and Italian varimax solutions. Alternative models were tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis; as in previous studies, the two-factor model achieved the best fit, but absolute fit indices varied with the estimation methods used. The independence/bipolarity issue was also explored: Positive and negative affect scales remain substantially independent after accounting for measurement error and acquiescence. Some predictions from the tripartite model of anxiety and depression were confirmed, and external correlates of the PANAS replicated those found in other languages and cultures. These analyses offer strong support for the construct validity of the Italian PANAS.

Rapid advances in mobile data-transfer technologies offer new possibilities in the use of cell phones to conduct assessments of a person's natural environment in real time. This paper describes features of a new Internet-based, cell phone-optimized assessment technique (ICAT), which consists of a retrospective baseline assessment combined with text messages sent to the participants' personal cell phones providing a hyperlink to an Internet-stored cell phone-optimized questionnaire. Two participation conditions were used to test variations in response burden. Retention rates, completion rates, and response times in different subgroups were tested by means of χ² tests, Cox regression, and logistic regression. Among the 237 initial participants, we observed a retention rate of 90.3% from the baseline assessment to the cell-phone part, and 80.4% repeated participation in the 30 daily assessments. Each day, 40-70% of the questionnaires were returned, a fourth in less than 3 minutes. Qualitative interviews underscored the ease of use of ICAT. This technique appears to be an innovative, convenient, and cost-effective way of collecting data on situational characteristics while minimizing recall bias. Because of its flexibility, ICAT can be applied in various disciplines, whether as part of small pilot studies or large-scale, crosscultural, and multisite research projects.

Contemporary theories of social anxiety emphasize the role of cognitive processes. Although social anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental health problems in adolescents, there are very few self-report instruments available to measure cognitive processes related to social anxiety in adolescents, let alone non-English instruments. The Self-Statements during Public Speaking Scale (SSPS; Hofmann & DiBartolo, 2000) is a brief self-report measure designed to assess self-statements related to public speaking, the most commonly feared social performance situation. In order to fill this gap in the literature, we translated the SSPS into Spanish and administered it to 1,694 adolescents from a community sample, a clinical sample composed of 71 subjects with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder; and a clinical control group consisting of 154 patients. The scale showed good psychometric properties, supporting the use of the Spanish version of the SSPS in adolescents.

Presents 4 studies (with a total of 440 Ss) that investigate the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and relationship with age of the Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17). As to convergent validity, SDS-17 scores showed correlations between .52 and .85 with other measures of social desirability. With respect to the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, SDS-17 scores showed a unique correlation with impression management, but not with self-deception. As to discriminant validity, SDS-17 scores showed nonsignificant correlations with neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism, and openness to experience, whereas there was some overlap with agreeableness and conscientiousness. With respect to relationship with age, the SDS-17 was administered in a sample stratified for age, with age ranging from 18 to 89 yrs. In all but the oldest age group, the SDS-17 showed substantial correlations with the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. The influence of age (cohort) on mean scores, however, was significantly smaller for the SDS-17 than for the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. In sum, results indicate that the SDS-17 is a reliable and valid measure of social desirability, suitable for adults of the target age range.

Presents an obituary of Hans-Jürgen Eysenck (1916-1997). Hans J. Eysenck--one of the most prominent psychologists in this century-- died on September 4, 1997. He was born on March 4, 1919, in Berlin. Eysenck can be characterized with three main traits. First of all, he considered psychology a science, so that methodology was tremendously important to him. Second, he was an honest researcher, and therefore he was a very controversial one. Finally, he was a very supportive scholar. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

We conducted a historical analysis of the articles published in the first (1992–1996) and last 5 years (2005–2009) of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment ( EJPA), mainly on the basis of an analysis of abstracts and keywords of articles. We dealt with the impact of EJPA, the main characteristics of its articles, its evolution, and to what extent main features in psychological assessment are represented in the journal. EJPA is a journal with a steadily rising impact factor that is relatively high for the field of assessment. Authorship is mainly European and coauthors usually come from the same country. The personality domain has gained popularity at the expense of cognition and education. Questionnaires are the most often and increasingly popular assessment method; there is also a tendency to employ multiple instruments and methods, and computerized assessment. More recent volumes have fewer substance-oriented and more measurement-oriented studies, notably studies in which validity is addressed by factor-analytic procedures. The incomplete coverage of recent developments in psychological assessment is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

In this study, a job analysis method was used to derive important and observable personal qualities (PQs) which were used to assess 116 military officer candidates (graduates, non-graduates, and staff) within a structured, life-history, general selection interview. 17 subject matter experts, who were knowledgeable of the job and interview technique, were used. After correcting for range restriction and adjusting for number of variates, the multiple correlation of the PQs against success at the next stage of training was: 0.41 for non-graduates; 0.28 for staff; and 0.18 for graduates. 2 possible explanations, both to do with observability of PQs, are proposed to explain these differences in predictive validity. It is argued that the proposed method can have similar validity to the situational interview for some groups of candidates without the problems and limitations of the situational interview. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

With reference to EJPA’s unique and broad scope, the current study analyzed the characteristics of the authors as well as the topics and research aims of the 69 empirical articles published in the years 2009–2010. Results revealed that more than one third of the articles were written by authors affiliated with more than one country. With reference to their research aims, an almost comparable number of articles (1) presented a new measure, (2) dealt with adaptations of measures, or (3) dealt with further research on existing measures. Analyses also revealed that most articles did not address any particular field of application. The second largest group was comprised of articles related to the clinical field, followed by the health-related field of application. The majority of all articles put their focus on investigating questionnaires or rating scales, and only a small number of articles investigated procedures classified as tests or properties of interviews. As to further characteristics of the method(s) used, a majority of EJPA contributions addressed self-report data. Results are discussed with reference to publication demands as well as the current and future challenges and demands of psychological assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Ambulatory assessment targets capturing psychological, behavioral, and physiological data in "real time" using in-field data acquisition systems. Although ambulatory assessment research has flourished particularly in the last decades, overviews on hardware and software solutions for monitoring are scarce, and--if found--are often outdated. In this review, we give an overview of current software and hardware solutions, focusing on multichannel systems for physiological data acquisition and hand-held computer based "experience sampling" systems. We aim at offering the reader guidance with regard to their choice of psychological and physiological monitoring solutions, giving special emphasis to key features relevant for different research questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Examines the psychometric properties of the scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and its 4 subscales: somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunctioning, and severe depression. Data from 4 European countries were used, including 691 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Psychometric evaluation of the GHQ-28 for each country, both separately and simultaneously, were carried out. Results from Simultaneous Component Analysis, internal consistencies, intercorrelations between the subscales across countries, and group-mean comparisons found that the original 4 factor structure was present in all 4 countries. Evidence was also found for the unidimensionality of each of the 4 subscales. For cross-national comparison on the subscale level, it is concluded that sufficient evidence is found for all 4 subscales, as originally suggested by D. P. Goldberg and V. F. Hillier (1979). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

There is increasing interest in the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQR-A) as a research tool for psychologists. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of a French translation of the EPQR-A in order to facilitate its use among French researchers. Data from a sample of 515 French undergraduate university students (462 females and 53 males; mean age 20.46 yrs) were used. The dimensionality of the EPQR-A was examined in terms of the underlying latent factors. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the authors found evidence for the unidimensionality of the four EPQR-A subscales of extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, and the lie scale. These results are consistent with those of previous research with the original English version of the EPQR-A (L. J. Francis et al, 1992; S. Forrest et al, 2000). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Examined the structural validity of the multiple-choice items of the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test (STAT) regarding the existence and separability of the 3 aspects (creative, analytical, and practical) of intelligence in 3 content modalities, by using the techniques of confirmatory factor analysis on a combined sample of 3,278 school students (12–18 yrs old) from the US, Finland, and Spain. The results of the comparison of a number of models—using the strategy of hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis (HCFA) and comparing nested and alternative models, specified under different assumed theories relative to a unidimensional concept of general intelligence, a traditional factorial concept, and a triarchic model—illustrate that the second-order factor model based on the triarchic theory of intelligence achieves the best (albeit far from perfect) fit to the empirical data. The results of this study provide some support for the construct validity of the STAT and of the triarchic theory of intelligence on which it is based. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

In the US , normative population for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (WAIS--R), differences (Ds) between persons' verbal and performance IQs (VlQs and PIQs) tend to increase with an increase in full scale IQs (FSIQs). This suggests that norm-referenced interpretations of Ds should take FSIQs into account. Two new graphs are presented to facilitate this type of interpretation. One of these graphs estimates the mean of absolute values of D (called typical D) at each FSIQ level of the US normative population. The other graph estimates the absolute value of D that is exceeded only 5% of the time (called abnormal D) at each FSIQ level of this population. A graph for the identification of conventional "statistically significant Ds" (also called "reliable Ds") is also presented. A reliable D is defined in the context of classical true score theory as an absolute D that is unlikely to be exceeded by a person whose true VIQ and PIQ are equal. As conventionally defined reliable Ds do not depend on the FSIQ. The graphs of typical and abnormal Ds are based on quadratic models of the relation of sizes of Ds to FSIQs. Implications of the three juxtaposed graphs for the interpretation of VIQ-PIQ differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

This research develops a psychometrically sound measure of the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ; Raedeke & Smith, 2001) in French (Le Questionnaire du Burnout Sportif, QBS). We first developed a preliminary version and then had 895 French adolescents involved in competitive sport or physical education at school complete the survey. The results showed good internal consistency (all Cronbach’s α values > .75). Confirmatory factor analysis with the three subscales of the ABQ (emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment, and devaluation) confirmed the structure of the instrument and good data fit (NNFI = .95, CFI = .96, GFI = .95, RMSEA = .07) in accordance with the results obtained in previous studies (e.g., Cresswell & Eklund, 2005a,b; Raedeke & Smith, 2001). Furthermore, the patterns of relationships between the ABQ subscales and motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety provide concurrent validity of the ABQ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO, Kernberg & Clarkin, 1995; Lenzenweger, Clarkin, Kernberg, & Foelsch, 2001) is a self-report instrument intended to measure a patient’s level of personality organization. This manuscript describes the development of a shortened version of the IPO (the IPO-R). Construct validity of the IPO-R is determined by investigating (a) its latent structure, (b) the equivalence of this latent structure in a normal and a clinical sample (structural validity), and (c) differences between mean scores of the IPO-R scales for a normal population, axis-I disordered and axis-II disordered patients (concurrent validity). The IPO-R showed adequate construct validity in a normal and a clinical sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

In a research carried out on 69 Ss (mean age 20.56 yrs), the authors examined the absolute and relative accuracy in the retrospective estimate of positive and negative mood as well as specific factors within positive and negative mood. The absolute accuracy was defined as the difference between average daily estimates within a period of 35 to 42 days and retrospective mood estimates for the same period, which was examined one week after the end of the day-to-day estimates. The results show statistically significant differences between average daily and retrospective mood estimates, both for positive and negative mood, for all specific factors of positive mood and for sadness as a specific factor of negative mood. In all cases retrospective estimates are statistically higher in comparison to the average day-to-day estimates. The correlation coefficients, which reflect the relative accuracy, are statistically significant and high for all mood factors. The results obtained are discussed in the context of the cognitive and motivational processes that can be operative in the retrospective mood estimates and the main measurement implications of the results are indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The conditions are investigated in which Spanish university teachers carry out their teaching and research functions. 655 teachers from the University of Oviedo took part in this study by completing the Academic Setting Evaluation Questionnaire (ASEQ). Of the three dimensions assessed in the ASEQ, Satisfaction received the lowest ratings, Social Climate was rated higher, and Relations with students was rated the highest. These results are similar to those found in two studies carried out in the academic years 1986/87 and 1989/90. Their relevance for higher education is twofold because these data can be used as a complement of those obtained by means of students' opinions, and the crossing of both types of data can facilitate decision making in order to improve the quality of the work (teaching and research) of the university institutions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The German Pupils Academy (Deutsche Schüler-Akademie) is a summer-school program for highly gifted secondary-school students. Three types of program evaluation were conducted. Input evaluation confirmed the participants as intellectually highly gifted students who are intrinsically motivated and interested to attend the courses offered at the summer school. Process evaluation focused on the courses attended by the participants as the most important component of the program. Accordingly, the instructional approaches meet the needs of highly gifted students for self-regulated and discovery oriented learning. The product or impact evaluation was based on a multivariate social-cognitive framework. The findings indicate that the program contributes to promoting motivational and cognitive prerequisites for transforming giftedness into excellent performances. To some extent, the positive effects on students' self-efficacy and self-regulatory strategies are due to qualities of the learning environments established by the courses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

In the 1st study, 46 Ss (aged 17–57 yrs) filled in the Big Five under the spontaneous and accountability conditions. Contrary to expectations, there was a small but significant effect. When Ss were asked to give answers they would have to account for, they scored higher on conscientiousness and emotional stability. In the 2nd study, Ss filled in the Big Five for 2 jobs differing in the extent to which the applicant has to manage people or systems. In line with expectations, there was an effect of autonomy but contrary to expectations not of conscientiousness and extraversion. The practical consequences of the accountability instruction for the validity of personality questionnaires and of job types for norms are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Addresses 4 problems that arise when translating achievement tests for use in cross-national studies: (1) selecting translators, (2) identifying the appropriate language for the target version of the test, (3) identifying and minimizing cultural differences, and (4) finding equivalent words or phrases. How these problems might be resolved are identified, and judgmental and statistical methods for establishing the equivalence of scores from the test presented in different languages are reviewed. Two basic judgmental methods are identified in the educational and psychological literature, and 3 data collection designs are used in establishing test score equivalence of the source and target language versions of a test. The author also provides 14 preliminary guidelines for persons doing test translations and equivalence studies. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The Achievement Motives Scale (AMS) is a well-established and frequently used scale to assess hope of success and fear of failure. In three studies with German-speaking samples (N = 3523, N = 132, N = 126), the authors developed a revised form of the AMS using confirmatory factor analysis. As found in previous research, the original 30-item set of the AMS did not provide an acceptable fit to a two-factor model. In contrast, a revised 10-item version (AMS-R) provided an adequate fit to the theoretically intended two-factor model. The adequate fit could be validated in cross-validation procedures. Furthermore, the revised scales provided adequate reliability, lower interscale correlations, and criterion-related validity with respect to typical criteria of achievement-related behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The objective of the present study was to compare alternative factorial structures of the French-Canadian version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) across samples of athletes at different stages of a sport competition. The first sample (N=305) was used to assess, compare, and improve the measurement model of the PANAS. The second sample (N=217) was used to cross-validate the model that provided the best fit with the calibration sample. Results of confirmatory factor analyses suggested that a modified three-factor model with cross-loadings provided a better fit to the data than either the hypothesized or the modified two-factor models. This model was partially replicated on the second sample. Results of a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis have shown that the model was partially invariant across the two samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The construct of behavioral undercontrol is often assessed as a potential risk factor in studies of health-risk behaviors, but few studies have examined psychometric properties of measures of behavioral undercontrol. The present study tested the factor structure of the Behavioral Undercontrol Questionnaire (BUQ), a 20-item self-report measure, across gender and racial/ethnic groups, using a college sample (N = 648). We hypothesized that the factor structure would vary by both gender and race/ethnicity. A single-factor solution was identified and confirmed within each group. However, analyses yielded differences across gender and racial/ethnic groups. Findings support the overall validity of the BUQ, but also suggest that caution should be exercised in making comparisons across gender and racial/ethnic groups. These data also highlight the importance of assessing the psychometric properties of measures of behavioral undercontrol and other externalizing constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The Perceived Empathic Self-Efficacy Scale (PESE) and the Perceived Social Self-Efficacy Scale (PSSE) were developed to assess, respectively, individuals’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding both empathic responding to others’ needs or feelings and managing interpersonal relationships. In this study of young adults, a unidimensional factorial structure of both scales was found in Italy, the United States, and Bolivia. Complete invariance at the metric level and partial invariance at the scalar level were found across gender and countries for both scales. The construct and incremental validity of both PESE and PSSE were further examined in a different sample of Italian young adults. Patterns of association of the PESE or PSSE with self-esteem, psychological well-being, and the use of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies were found, often over and beyond their associations with empathy or extraversion, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Pro-environmental orientation constitutes one of the basic referents of modern culture. However, this pro-environmental orientation of a general nature does not permit us to predict pro-environmental behaviors. In order to explain this incongruence, it is necessary to take into account the sociostructural factors and socialization experiences through which people form their environmental values, attitudes, and behaviors. In this study we compare the values, attitudes, and behaviors of a rural sample and an urban sample, measured by means of three scales: the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, a moral obligation scale specifically designed for this study, and a scale of pro-environmental behavioral intentions. The results indicate high levels of environmental concern and low levels of pro-environmental behavior in both samples. On comparing the two samples it was found that those living in cities assume a larger number of environmental responsibility values but show less pro-environmental orientation when the attitude and behavioral intention scales are used. People living in the rural context present more attitudes of environmental responsibility and greater consistency on expressing behavioral intentions compatible with the protection of the environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)