Structural equation modeling with longitudinal data: Strategies for examining group differences and reciprocal relationships.

This article describes the use of structural equation modeling with latent variables to examine group differences and test competing models about cause–effect relationships in passive longitudinal designs. This approach is compared with several other statistical methods including analysis of cross-lagged panel correlations, regression analysis, and path analysis. The mechanics and advantages of structural equation modeling are illustrated using an example based on a 3-wave longitudinal study of adolescents' alcohol use. Within this example, the generalizability of the measurement model and structural model are assessed across gender and time, and competing models about the causes and consequences of adolescents' alcohol use are tested. The article concludes with a discussion of some of the strengths and limitations of using structural equation modeling with longitudinal data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It takes three: Selection, influence, and de-selection processes of depression in adolescent friendship networks.

The authors of this study tested a selection–influence–de-selection model of depression. This model explains friendship influence processes (i.e., friends' depressive symptoms increase adolescents' depressive symptoms) while controlling for two processes: friendship selection (i.e., selection of friends with similar levels of depressive symptoms) and friendship de-selection (i.e., de-selection of friends with dissimilar levels of depressive symptoms). Further, this study is unique in that these processes were studied both inside and outside the school context. The authors used a social network approach to examine 5 annual measurements of data in a large (N =847) community-based network of adolescents and their friends (M = 14.3 years old at first measurement). Results supported the proposed model: adolescents tend to select friends with similar levels of depression, and friends may increase each other's depressive symptoms as relationships endure. These two processes were most salient outside the school context. At the same time, friendships seemed to be ended more frequently if adolescents' level of depressive symptoms was dissimilar to that of their friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Drug Involvement Scale for Adolescents (DISA)

This article specifically addressed the need for a multidimensional approach to measuring adolescents' drug involvement. The Drug Involvement Scale for Adolescents (DISA) was theoretically specified and its measurement properties were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analyses and traditional procedures with 705 high-risk and typical high school students. Five first-order dimensions, Drug Access, Alcohol Use, Other Drug Use, Drug Use Control Problems and Adverse Drug Use Consequences, and a hierarchical model of Drug Involvement demonstrated a good fit between model and data. Further, the DISA demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha = .91); correlated as expected with known correlates of adolescent drug use; discriminated drug involvement between high-risk and typical high school students; and predicted later drug involvement and known drug-related consequences among adolescents. The results suggest the DISA should be useful for capturing a multidimensional view of adolescent drug involvement in both etiologic and prevention studies. A major advantage of the DISA is its brevity: twenty-two indicators constructed from twenty-nine items.     

Les relations avec l'entourage et l'adaptation psychosociale a l'ecole secondaire.

This study examined adolescents' relationships with their mother, their teachers, and their peers and the contribution of these relationships to the variability of their psychosocial adaptation. Two-hundred and ten students from two schools completed questionnaires. The findings showed that adolescents' levels of attachment to mothers was associated with teacher support, the adolescents' levels of self-esteem but not with attachment to friends. Attachment to friends was associated with adolescents' self-rated social skills. Teacher support was the best predictor of school belongingness. Gender and school grades moderated some of these associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of family connectedness among adolescents with mexican, chinese, and european backgrounds.

Multiple dimensions of adolescents' connectedness with their families were investigated among 489 9th-grade students (M = 14.86 years) from families with Mexican, Chinese, and European backgrounds. Participants reported on various aspects of their family relationships and completed diary checklists of daily behaviors for a 2-week period. Adolescents from European backgrounds reported levels of family identification and dyadic closeness with parents similar to or greater than those reported by their peers. For adolescents from Mexican and Chinese backgrounds, particularly those from immigrant families, family connectedness included a stronger emphasis on family obligation and assistance. The extent to which family demographic variables, including parental level of education and residence in a single-parent family, accounted for group differences was examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and environmental influences on the relationships between family connectedness, school connectedness, and adolescent depressed mood: Sex differences.

This study investigated (a) genetic and environmental contributions to the relationship between family and school environment and depressed mood and (b) potential sex differences in genetic and environmental contributions to both variation in and covariation between family connectedness, school connectedness, and adolescent depressed mood. Data are from 2,302 adolescent sibling pairs (mean age?=?16 years) who were part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Although genetic factors appeared to be important overall, model-fitting analyses revealed that the best-fitting model was a model that allowed for different parameters for male and female adolescents. Genetic contributions to variation in all 3 variables were greater among female adolescents than male adolescents, especially for depressed mood. Genetic factors also contributed to the correlations between family and school environment and adolescent depressed mood, although, again, these factors were stronger for female than for male adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using organizational change procedures to promote the acceptability of prereferral intervention services: The school-based intervention team project.

Prereferral intervention programs represent a consultation-based approach for providing behavioral and/or instructional support to students before considering their eligibility for special class placement. Although research concerning the initial success of these programs has been promising, more information is needed relating program process variables to student outcomes in addition to effective procedures for promoting the adoption of these programs over time. This article describes organizational change procedures that were used to promote the acceptability of a prereferral intervention program at 4 pilot schools. Ss were school-based intervention team members (teachers, teaching assistants, school psychologists, and staff development facilitators) at each school. This article presents evaluation data concerning the program's acceptability to team members and participating teachers, integrity of the consultative process, and effect on numbers of children referred to special education. The implications of these results for school psychologists attempting to promote the acceptability and long-term adoption of prereferral intervention programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reliability and validity of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI): Evidence from a longitudinal cross-informant investigation.

Psychometric properties of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) were examined using data collected from adolescents and their parents in the Fullerton Longitudinal Study. Results revealed acceptable internal consistency for most scales and moderate to high 1-year stability for all scales. Both parents' PCRI scores correlated with their views of family climate. Cross-informant concordance was pervasive and strong between mothers' PCRI scores and adolescents' perceptions of the parent-child relationship and family climate; however, convergence was not evident between fathers' and adolescents' reports. Additionally, poor performance was observed for the Autonomy scale. In conjunction with other research on parent-adolescent relationships, concerns are raised regarding the utility of scales to contrast mother-adolescent with father-adolescent relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrater reliability and agreement of subjective judgments.

Indexes of interrater reliability and agreement are reviewed, and suggestions are made regarding their use in counseling psychology research. The distinction between agreement and reliability is clarified, and the relationships between these indexes and the level of measurement and type of replication are discussed. Indexes of interrater reliability appropriate for use with ordinal and interval scales are considered. The intraclass correlation as a measure of interrater reliability is discussed in terms of the treatment of between-raters variance and the appropriateness of reliability estimates based on composite or individual ratings. The advisability of optimal weighting schemes for calculating composite ratings is also considered. Measures of interrater agreement for ordinal and interval scales are described, as are measures of interrater agreement for data at the nominal level of measurement. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is aggression the same for boys and girls? Assessing measurement invariance with confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory.

Gender differences in aggression have typically been based on studies utilizing a mean difference method. From a measurement perspective, this method is inherently problematic unless an aggression measure possesses comparable validity across gender. Stated differently, establishing measurement invariance on the measure of aggression is prerequisite to making any inferences about gender differences. This paper investigated whether aggression functions in the same way across gender using teacher-rated aggression scales from the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC). The samples for this study consisted of the BASC standardization samples, including 1,223 children (628 boys, 595 girls) and 788 adolescents (379 boys, 409 girls). The measurement invariance of the BASC aggression scales was examined with both confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory (IRT). CFA results showed that there was not enough evidence to support the measurement invariance of the scales across gender at a scale level; IRT results found that only a few items were significantly different across gender. The two methods have similarities and differences in studying measurement invariance, so they can be complementary to each other. The implications of the findings for research and practice in school psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of family, peer, and school contexts on depressive symptoms in adolescents with spina bifida.

Objective: Based on social ecological theory, this study examined the joint relations among adolescents' family, peer, and school contexts and depressive symptoms in youth with spina bifida using cumulative, protective, and specific effects models. Method: Sixty families of adolescents with spina bifida and 65 comparison families reported on adolescents' positive experiences within these contexts and on depressive symptoms when youth were 14–15 and 16–17 years old. Results: Adolescents with spina bifida had fewer total positive contexts and less positive experience within peer and school contexts, as compared to typically developing adolescents. Greater total number of positive contexts and higher levels of positive experiences within family and school contexts were associated with fewer depressive symptoms for both groups; peer positive experiences were related to lower depressive symptoms for typically developing adolescents only. Conclusion: Adolescents with spina bifida have fewer positive contexts, which may place them at risk for higher levels of depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of the original Ontario Child Health Study scales

This article presents evaluative information on the use of the original Ontario Child Health Study scales to serve as original-level measures of conduct disorder, hyperactivity and emotional disorder among children in the general (non clinic) population. Problem checklist assessments were obtained from parents and teachers of children aged six to 16 and youth aged 12 to 16 drawn from a general population (n = 1,751); and a mental health clinic sample (n = 1,027) in the same industrialized, urban setting. The results showed that the original OCHS scales possess adequate psychometric properties to be used as original-level measures of disorder. Correlations between individual items and their hypothesized scales were very strong, indicating convergent validity, while correlations between the same items and other (non hypothesized) scales were lower, indicating discriminant validity. Item analyses indicated that individual scale items possess both convergent and discriminant validity. Although the scales were skewed to the positive end of the continuum, they demonstrated good internal consistency (all estimates > or = 0.74) and test-retest (all estimates > or = 0.65) reliability. Finally, three different validity analyses confirmed hypotheses about how the original OCHS scales should perform if they provide useful measures of disorder.     

A multicultural assessment of adolescent connectedness: Testing measurement invariance across gender and ethnicity.

Counselors, psychologists, and evaluators of intervention programs for youth increasingly view the promotion of connectedness as an important intervention outcome. When evaluating these programs, researchers frequently test whether the treatment effects differ across gender and ethnic or racial groups. Doing so necessitates the availability of culturally and gender-invariant measures. We used the Hemingway: Measure of Adolescent Connectedness to estimate the factor structure invariance and equality of means across gender and 3 racial/ethnic groups with a large sample of middle school adolescents. From a practical perspective, the 10-scale model suggested factor structure invariance across gender and racial or ethnic (i.e., African American, Caucasian, and Latina/o) groups of adolescents. However, tests for partial invariance revealed some group difference on the factor loadings and intercepts between gender and ethnic/racial groups. When testing for mean equivalence, girls reported higher connectedness to friends, siblings, school, peers, teachers, and reading but lower connectedness to their neighborhoods. Caucasians reported higher connectedness to their neighborhoods and friends but lower connectedness to siblings than African Americans and Latinos. African Americans reported the highest connectedness to self (present and future) but lowest connectedness to teachers. Latinos reported the lowest connectedness to reading, self-in-the-present, and self-in-the-future. Overall, this study reveals racial/ethnic and gender mean differences on several connectedness subscales and suggests the Hemingway subscales are, from a practical perspective, invariant across gender and ethnicity and therefore appropriate for most assessment and evaluation purposes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An Empirical Evaluation of Alternative Methods of Estimation for Confirmatory Factor Analysis With Ordinal Data.

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is widely used for examining hypothesized relations among ordinal variables (e.g., Likert-type items). A theoretically appropriate method fits the CFA model to polychoric correlations using either weighted least squares (WLS) or robust WLS. Importantly, this approach assumes that a continuous, normal latent process determines each observed variable. The extent to which violations of this assumption undermine CFA estimation is not well-known. In this article, the authors empirically study this issue using a computer simulation study. The results suggest that estimation of polychoric correlations is robust to modest violations of underlying normality. Further, WLS performed adequately only at the largest sample size but led to substantial estimation difficulties with smaller samples. Finally, robust WLS performed well across all conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Constructing personality scales under the assumptions of an ideal point response process: Toward increasing the flexibility of personality measures.

The main aim of this article is to explicate why a transition to ideal point methods of scale construction is needed to advance the field of personality assessment. The study empirically demonstrated the substantive benefits of ideal point methodology as compared with the dominance framework underlying traditional methods of scale construction. Specifically, using a large, heterogeneous pool of order items, the authors constructed scales using traditional classical test theory, dominance item response theory (IRT), and ideal point IRT methods. The merits of each method were examined in terms of item pool utilization, model-data fit, measurement precision, and construct and criterion-related validity. Results show that adoption of the ideal point approach provided a more flexible platform for creating future personality measures, and this transition did not adversely affect the validity of personality test scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' evaluations of university teaching: Chinese version of the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality Instrument.

This study evaluates the applicability of a Chinese translation of the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) and explores the generality of selected findings based on North American research to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Students (N?=?844) selected a "good" and a "poor" teacher, and rated each using the SEEQ. Good teachers were rated more favorably than poor teachers on all SEEQ scales, all SEEQ items were judged to be most important by at least some students, and SEEQ items (except, perhaps, feedback on examinations) were seen as appropriate by most students. Relations with background variables (student gender, teacher gender, teacher age, course grade, class size, workload and difficulty) were similar to those reported in North American studies. The results support the use of the SEEQ in this Chinese setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating treatment effectiveness by monitoring changes in problematic behaviors.

Suggests the use of a problem-oriented approach for the measurement of change in patient status, using an ordinal scale format. Correlational data and findings from the use of this approach with spouses and patients receiving conjoint family therapy are presented to illustrate the advantages of the method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic and emotional functioning in early adolescence: longitudinal relations, patterns, and prediction by experience in middle school

Adopting a motivational perspective on adolescent development, these two companion studies examined the longitudinal relations between early adolescents' school motivation (competence beliefs and values), achievement, emotional functioning (depressive symptoms and anger), and middle school perceptions using both variable- and person-centered analytic techniques. Data were collected from 1041 adolescents and their parents at the beginning of seventh and the end of eight grade in middle school. Controlling for demographic factors, regression analyses in Study 1 showed reciprocal relations between school motivation and positive emotional functioning over time. Furthermore, adolescents' perceptions of the middle school learning environment (support for competence and autonomy, quality of relationships with teachers) predicted their eighth grade motivation, achievement, and emotional functioning after accounting for demographic and prior adjustment measures. Cluster analyses in Study 2 revealed several different patterns of school functioning and emotional functioning during seventh grade that were stable over 2 years and that were predictably related to adolescents' reports of their middle school environment. Discussion focuses on the developmental significance of schooling for multiple adjustment outcomes during adolescence.     

Discerning direct and mediated effects of ecological structures and processes on adolescents' educational outcomes.

This short-term longitudinal study examined the relations among family and school characteristics, family-level processes (youth perceptions of parent-adolescent interactions), school-level processes (youth perceptions of school belonging, school climate), adolescents' school engagement, and later academic performance. Participants were an ethnically diverse, urban sample of 1,120 9th-grade students (M age = 14.6 years). The structural characteristics of families and schools influenced the proximal processes that occurred therein, and these proximal processes, in turn, influenced students' proximal (i.e., engagement) and distal educational outcomes (i.e., grades in school). Moreover, the structural characteristics of families and schools influenced proximal and distal outcomes indirectly through their influence on the proximal processes. The multimediated ecological model suggested that intervening at the process level may be a successful means of improving both adolescents' engagement in school and their subsequent school performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of brief scales to monitor clients' constructions of change.

This article describes the development and validation of scales to measure clients' outcome optimism, perceived progress, and self-agency related to change in problems presented in therapy. In Study 1, initial confirmatory and subsequent exploratory factor analyses (N?=?257) identified effort and persistence as an additional unique factor and guided selection of items to measure the 4 constructs. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis of the revised scales with a new sample (N?=?93) confirmed the measurement model. Results of convergent and discriminant validity analyses generally were in the predicted directions. The Perceived Progress scale demonstrated criterion validity with changes in dyadic adjustment and family functioning. The Outcome Optimism and Self-Agency scales showed variability in their relationship to the Perceived Progress scale over the first 3 sessions of therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)