Self-discrepancy: Comparisons of the psychometric properties of three instruments.

In 2 studies, the psychometric properties of 3 methods for measuring real–ideal and real–ought self-discrepancies were compared: the idiographic Self-Concept Questionnaire–Personal Constructs, the nonidiographic Self-Concept Questionnaire–Conventional Constructs, and the content-free Abstract Measures. In the 1st study, 125 students at a university clinic completed the 3 instruments and measures of anxiety and depression before individual therapy. In the 2nd study, 278 undergraduates completed the 3 instruments at 2 time points 4 weeks apart and completed multiple measures of anxiety and depression at the 2nd time point. Internal consistency alphas were consistently strong for the personal construct measures (.90 to .92) and moderate to strong for the conventional construct measures (.82 to .90). Test–retest reliability coefficients were above .70 for the personal construct and conventional construct measures, but the coefficients for the latter were inflated by the stability of their error terms. The 2 discrepancies were found to be factorially distinct even though they were highly correlated. Convergent and discriminant evidence of validity was found in both studies for all measures except the abstract real–ought discrepancy. Convergence was as strong or stronger for the personal construct measures in comparison to the other measures. Test-criterion evidence of validity, with multiple measures of anxiety and depression as criteria, was found in both studies for all measures except for the abstract real–ought discrepancy in relation to anxiety. Overall, the findings support the idiographic personal construct instrument most strongly for clinical assessment and for clinical, translational, and personality research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality of life: theory and methodology in rehabilitation

Validity studies of neuropsychological tests have typically examined individuals with neurological disorders. The present study was designed to investigate the construct validity of neuropsychological measures in patients with schizophrenia. We used Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised (WAIS-R) factor scores that were generated from the population of interest as marker variables in the present analysis. The current study included 39 patients with schizophrenia who were evaluated with a battery of neuropsychological tests assessing attention, memory, and abstract reasoning abilities. Pearson correlations indicated significant relationships between (a) WAIS-R Verbal Comprehension factor and tests of sustained attention, verbal memory and remote memory; (b) WAIS-R Perceptual Organization factor and tests of visual memory and abstraction and problem solving; and (c) WAIS-R Freedom From Distractibility factor and neuropsychological measures of attention and concentration. These results provide support for the construct validity of the neuropsychological tests in patients with schizophrenia, and indicate that these tests evaluate essentially the same constructs in patients with schizophrenia as they do for patients with structural neurological disorders.     

Androgyny versus gender schema: A comment on Bem's gender schema theory.

S. L. Bem (see PA, Vol 66:00000) proposes that the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) measures individual differences in a unidimensional construct in addition to 2 independent dimensions, global self-concepts of masculinity and femininity. Evidence suggests that the BSRI measures primarily self-images of instrumental and expressive personality traits and that these trait clusters show little or no relationship to global self-images of masculinity and femininity or to unidimensional constructs such as the tendency to utilize gender schemata. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and preliminary validation of a scale of psychache.

Details the construction and psychometric evaluation of a scale of psychache. Two studies were conducted to describe the Psychache Scale's development and construct validity with 505 university undergraduates. Analyses indicate that the scale of psychache had strong internal consistency reliability, criterion validity for indicating various suicide criteria, and incremental validity, relative to other established psychological antecedents of suicide measures, for statistically predicting status on these suicide criteria. Findings support both the construct validity of the Psychache Scale and E. S. Shneidman's (1993) theory that emphasizes the pre-eminence of psychache as a cause of suicide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Constructs and their vicissitudes in educational and psychological measurement.

Examines implications for educational and psychological measurement of 3 ontological perspectives on the nature of mediating variables underlying consistencies in test and nontest behaviors: (a) intervening variables operationally tied to real causal entities, such as personality traits or environmental contingencies; (b) hypothetical constructs that organize and summarize behavioral consistencies but have no reality outside the theoretical system; and (c) manifestations of real entities that are understood only in terms of constructs that summarize their empirical properties in relation to a theoretical network. All 3 apply to personality traits, situational forces, and their interactions; the summary of power of constructs that led to the predominance of construct validity principles in trait measurement implies that these principles should hold with equal cogency for situational and interactive measurement. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role taking and self-image disparity in children.

Related the development of the self-concept to L. Kohlberg's (1969) and G. M. Meade's (1934) theories on the importance of role taking, language, and the generalized other. 68 4th, 5th, and 6th graders were administered a role-taking task, a communication task, a self-image questionnaire, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Results indicate that nonegocentric Ss had more positive ideal self-images and a greater disparity between real and ideal self-image than egocentric Ss. Referential communication was not related to any of these self-image measures or to role taking. Findings are interpreted as supporting a cognitive/developmental theory of the self-concept as the elaboration of the ideal self-image and differentiation of the self-concept through the process of taking the role of others toward the self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A psychometric perspective on psychophysiological measures.

Psychophysiological measures are a useful complement to self-report or behavioral measures because they can assess fundamentally different processes or more sensitively assess the same processes as those targeted by other types of measures. To be maximally beneficial, psychophysiological measures must meet the psychometric criteria that are commonly applied to self-report or behavioral measures. Empirical findings to date indicate that the temporal stability of psychophysiological measures thought to assess individual differences is variable and that researchers should devote more attention to systematic assessment of reliability, stability, and generalizability. The most critical psychometric issue involves construct validity and the establishment of linkages between psychophysiological measures and specific psychological processes. Several methodological and conceptual reasons for the difficulties that researchers encounter in the attempt to establish such linkages are discussed. Methodological guidelines for maximizing the reliability, temporal stability, and psychological meaningfulness of psychophysiological measures are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative accuracy of self-predictions and judgments by others in psychological assessment.

Compared the validity of individual's self-assessments with other assessment procedures commonly used in psychological evaluation. Comparisons are made in the prediction of all criteria investigated: intellectual achievement, vocational choice, job performance, therapy outcome, adjustment following hospitalization, and peer ratings. Self-assessments were at least as predictive of these criteria as were other assessment methods against which they have been pitted. Limitations of this conclusion and its implications for current psychological evaluation procedures are examined. It is argued that greater attention should be given to self-assessments and to the evaluation procedures that may enhance their predictive validity. Steps are outlined for deciding when self-assessment should be used, and suggestions are offered as to how the validity of self-judgments might be maximized. (129 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social perception as induction and inference: An integrative model of intergroup differentiation, ingroup favoritism, and differential accuracy.

Three general properties of social stereotypes are the perception of differences between ingroups and outgroups (intergroup differentiation), the perception of ingroups as having more desirable attributes than outgroups (ingroup favoritism), and the greater accuracy of ingroup perceptions (differential accuracy). We present and test an inductive-reasoning model that accounts for all 3 phenomena, and we explicate the relations among them. Based on empirical evidence, the model assumes that most people have a positive self-image, that they project these self-images more strongly to ingroups than to outgroups, and that their self-images are valid cues for judgments about social groups. Two minimal-group experiments using a crossed-categorization paradigm support the model and provide new evidence for underlying psychological processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The internal consistency of measures of cognitive structure.

The distribution of judgments between alternative poles of a construct, derived from the grid form of the Role Construct Repertory Test, influences the interpretation of measures of cognitive structure. Investigations of the reliability of these measures have excluded the possibility that differentiation on the basis of similarity is distinct from differentiation on the basis of contrast. In the present study with 107 business school students, judgments of similarity were assumed to be different from those of contrast. The present evaluation of internal consistency, temporal stability, and construct validity for 10 measures of cognitive structure indicates that only 1 measure satisfies criteria on these 3 attributes. (French abstract) (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventing adolescent smoking: What have we learned about treatment construct validity?

Reviews the treatment construct validity of programs to prevent adolescent smoking to determine how and why programs reduce adolescent smoking. The issue of why beneficial effects are obtained is explored in terms of whether a treatment affects outcome; whether each variable in a proposed causal chain affects the variable that follows it after controlling for all prior variables, including treatment; and whether treatment has an effect on outcome when the mediating variables are controlled. Studies investigating the mediational effects of subjective norms such as social consequences and peer vs adult leaders, social competence, and intervention are reviewed. It is concluded that little is presently known about the construct validity of successful programs, a problem that results primarily from the neglect of process assessment and analyses. The advantages and disadvantages of several future research approaches are discussed, including utilization of process measures within large-scale treatment/no-treatment designs, small-scale studies to test the effects of prevention components on process measures (e.g., attitudes, intentions to smoke), and combinations of these approaches. (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural analysis of correlated factors: Lessons from the verbal-performance dichotomy of the Wechsler scales.

Exploratory and confirmatory analyses of the verbal–performance dichotomy of 3 Wechsler scales of intelligence are used to illustrate key concepts and procedures for the analysis of correlated factors. Although the constructs of interest in psychological assessment and applied research often are correlated with other variables, the fundamental question of just how high can the correlations among supposedly discrete constructs or factors be has not been resolved. Logically, based on the application of convergent and discriminant validity criteria, factors should have higher correlations with variables that they are intended to measure than with variables that they are not intended to measure. The structural issues have profound consequences when analyzed with respect to allowable inferences and decision outcomes for children. Incremental validity is reviewed and data is presented for 2 sets of data performed for the 3 scales investigated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sociometric status and academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment: A five-year longitudinal study.

600 4th-graders rated how much they like to play with each of their classmates and then nominated their 3 best friends; 296 of the 600 children were assigned sociometric classifications of popular, neglected, average, controversial, or rejected status (the remaining 304 children failed to meet inclusion criteria). Five years later, 267 of the 296 classified children (90.2%) were evaluated on measures of academic performance, social behavior, and psychological adjustment. The number and type of contacts with the juvenile justice system were also determined. In general, children classified as rejected or controversial tended to fare more poorly on indices of long-term adjustment than did children classified as popular, neglected, or average. Results are discussed in terms of the predictive validity of sociometric rating and nomination procedures and their utility in identifying children at risk for later maladjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The measurement of subjective organization in free recall.

Presents and discusses alternative measures of subjective organization. Various criteria for choosing among measures are compared, and 4 psychometric criteria are proposed: quantification, reliability, construct validity, and empirical validity. It is demonstrated that with respect to these criteria, the bidirectional form of intertrial repetition, here referred to as pair frequency, is the last measure of subjective organization now available. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The problem of validity in field studies of psychological disorder.

Results of over 25 attempts to count untreated cases of psychological disorder in community populations are reviewed, and the problem of validity in the measures of disorder is analyzed. Evidence of validity is found to be scant. The position is taken that, with no generally accepted criteria available, and no universe of content agreed upon, construct validity takes on added importance. A lead to 1 possible nomological net for the construct of psychological disorder is the consistent finding that the lowest socioeconomic stratum has the highest rate of symptomatology. This lead is developed with reference to the transcience of symptomatology found in extreme situations, in contrast to the persistence of symptomatology observed in patients and in studies of experimental neurosis. (77 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of psychological assessment: Validation of inferences from persons' responses and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning.

The traditional conception of validity divides it into three separate and substitutable types: content, criterion, and construct validities. This view is fragmented and incomplete, especially because it fails to take into account both evidence of the value implications of score meaning as a basis for action and the social consequences of score use. The new unified concept of validity interrelates these issues as fundamental aspects of a more comprehensive theory of construct validity that addresses both score meaning and social values in test interpretation and test use. That is, unified validity integrates considerations of content, criteria, and consequences into a construct framework for the empirical testing of rational hypotheses about score meaning and theoretically relevant relationships, including those of an applied and a scientific nature. Six distinguishable aspects of construct validity are highlighted as a means of addressing central issues implicit in the notion of validity as a unified concept. These are content, substantive, structural, generalizability, external, and consequential aspects of construct validity. In effect, these six aspects function as general validity criteria or standards for all educational and psychological measurement, including performance assessments, which are discussed in some detail because of their increasing emphasis in educational and employment settings. (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)     

The dilemma of factitious demographic distinctions in psychological research.

Terms such as race, sex, and age are assumed to reflect biological characteristics and distinctions. In psychological research, these terms are often treated as if they were a reflection of a meaningful set of psychological constructs. A review of articles in 3 prominent journals over a 30-year period reveals that these supposed biological identifiers are not used consistently and lack empirical and conceptual validity. An analysis of those articles shows that, over time, the term race has given way to the use of the more general and psychologically relevant term ethnicity, sex and gender have been used interchangeably, and the psychological constructs underlying or supposedly reflected in age are seldom discussed. It is proposed that psychosocial researchers and editors adopt a consistent definition of these terms and that research include an effort to identify the underlying concepts that the investigators assume to be reflected in these distinctions whenever these labels are used to report research findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cold deformation elements for attaching an implantable hearing aid transducer to ear ossicles or perilymph]

OBJECTIVE: The present study sought to examine the validity and utility of diagnostic criteria for binge-eating disorder (BED) by replicating and extending a study reported by de Zwaan and colleagues (International Journal of Eating Disorders, 15, 43-52, 1994). METHOD: Four groups of obese individuals were selected from a large community-based sample of men and women: 33 women and 20 men with BED, 79 women and 40 men with subthreshold BED, 21 women and 39 men who reported recurrent overeating, and 80 female and 80 male normal controls. The groups were compared on measures of body image concern, dieting behavior, and associated psychological distress. RESULTS: Individuals with BED were distinguishable from overeaters and normal controls on a number of psychological and behavioral variables. Few differences were found between subthreshold and full-syndrome BED, raising questions about the diagnostic validity of the frequency threshold. Men with BED did not differ from women with BED above and beyond the gender-related differences observed across all four groups. DISCUSSION: Our findings support the view of BED as a distinct syndrome.