2,009 research outputs found

    Mid- and Late-Life Divorce and Parents' Perceptions of Emerging Adult Children's Emotional Reactions

    Get PDF
    A paucity of research exists pertaining to the experiences of emerging adult children in the context of parental divorce. This study uses Paul R. Amato's divorce-stress-adjustment framework to organize a set of predictors that potentially influence parents' perceptions of their emerging adult children's emotional reactions to a divorce. Data come from a nationally representative AARP study, from which we analyzed a sample of 283 parents who experienced a divorce at age 40 years or older. Results indicate that parental gender, nature of contact with the ex-partner, divorce timing, time spent contemplating divorce, a history of parental divorce, and the reason for divorce influence parents' perceptions of their emerging adult children's reaction to the divorce. Implications, limitations, and future direction for research are discussed

    Informing efforts to prevent family maltreatment among airmen: A focus on personal resilience

    Get PDF
    Family maltreatment is a serious public health concern within civilian and military populations. The U.S. Air Force Family Advocacy Program (FAP) delivers services to active-duty Air Force members and their families that aim to promote personal resilience and prevent maltreatment perpetration among those most at risk. Informed by family resilience and ecological perspectives, the purpose of this study is to empirically test a theory of change or conceptual model that could serve as an evidence-informed foundation for the selection of prevention interventions used by military and FAP service providers. A representative sample of 30,541 active-duty Air Force members from the 2011 Air Force Community Assessment Survey was analyzed, comprising participants who had at least one child and who were in a committed relationship. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized model. Neighborhood safety was analyzed as a moderating influence. With a focus on personal resilience as an asset-based outcome, results indicated that personal resilience among airmen was positively associated with features of individual fitness, informal support, adaptive family processes, and unit leader support. Results also indicated that neighborhood safety significantly moderated associations in the empirical model

    Confirmatory Factor Analysis of a Measure of Comprehensive Airman Fitness

    Get PDF
    The U.S. Air Force has committed significant resources to implementing policies and programs consistent with the Department of Defense\u27s concept of total force fitness. A 12-item measure of Comprehensive Airman Fitness was proposed and empirically examined, using component measures of mental fitness, physical fitness, social fitness, and spiritual fitness from the Support and Resiliency Inventory. Results confirm that the components of airman fitness can be conceptualized as pieces of a total fitness construct and that the measure is invariant across subgroups. Implications for policy and practice are discussed, and an agenda for future research is presented

    A Measure of Comprehensive Airman Fitness: Construct Validation and Invariance Across Air Force Service Components

    Get PDF
    This article addresses the construct validity of an online assessment measure intended to reflect the biopsychosocial and spiritual fitness of U.S. Air Force (AF) members, defined as Comprehensive Airman Fitness. The analysis presented examines the extent to which this measure and the associated validation model are invariant across three AF components: active duty personnel, members of the Air National Guard/AF Reserve, and AF civilian employees. Our results indicate that total fitness (i.e., second-order factor), its four subcomponents (i.e., first-order factors), and the resiliency construct associated with role performance are invariant across service components at the configural, metric, and scalar measurement levels. Further, the strong positive association between total fitness and resiliency is statistically indistinguishable across all AF components. Limitations and implications are discussed

    A Measure of Comprehensive Airman Fitness: Construct Validation and Invariance Across Air Force Service Components

    Get PDF
    This article addresses the construct validity of an online assessment measure intended to reflect the biopsychosocial and spiritual fitness of U.S. Air Force (AF) members, defined as Comprehensive Airman Fitness. The analysis presented examines the extent to which this measure and the associated validation model are invariant across three AF components: active duty personnel, members of the Air National Guard/AF Reserve, and AF civilian employees. Our results indicate that total fitness (i.e., second-order factor), its four subcomponents (i.e., first-order factors), and the resiliency construct associated with role performance are invariant across service components at the configural, metric, and scalar measurement levels. Further, the strong positive association between total fitness and resiliency is statistically indistinguishable across all AF components. Limitations and implications are discussed

    Cognitive Pretesting and the Developmental Validity of Child Self-Report Instruments: Theory and Applications

    Get PDF
    In the context of the importance of valid self-report measures to research and evidence-based practice in social work, an argument-based approach to validity is presented and the concept of developmental validity introduced. Cognitive development theories are applied to the self-report process of children and cognitive pretesting is reviewed as a methodology to advance the validity of self-report instruments for children. An application of cognitive pretesting is presented in the development of the Elementary School Success Profile

    The Willingness of Military Members to Seek Help: The Role of Social Involvement and Social Responsibility

    Get PDF
    Anchored in the social organization theory of action and change, we use data from a large sample of active-duty Air Force members to examine the direct and indirect influence of social involvement and social responsibility on willingness to seek help in times of need via trust in formal systems and informal supports. Group comparisons are conducted between junior male, junior female, senior male, and senior female service members. The key mediational path in the model for all groups is the connection between social involvement and willingness to seek help via trust in formal systems. These results can inform both unit- and community-level interventions intended to increase the likelihood that active-duty AF members will seek help in times of need

    The Development and Evaluation of Procedures to Assess Child Self-report Item Validity

    Get PDF
    Cognitive pretesting (CP) is an interview methodology for pretesting the validity of items during the development of self-report instruments. The present research evaluates a systematic approach to the analysis of CP data. Materials and procedures were developed to rate self-report item performance with CP interview text data. Five raters were trained in the application of that system. Estimates of inter-rater reliability found acceptable to substantial levels of inter-rater agreement. Results from the present study suggest that excellent inter-rater reliability can be achieved in the evaluation of CP data. Guidelines for systematically rating the qualitative data collected using CP methods are provided. Future research should focus on empirical demonstrations of how such rating procedures can lead to improvements in self-report instruments

    The Willingness of Military Members to Seek Help: The Role of Social Involvement and Social Responsibility

    Get PDF
    Anchored in the social organization theory of action and change, we use data from a large sample of active-duty Air Force members to examine the direct and indirect influence of social involvement and social responsibility on willingness to seek help in times of need via trust in formal systems and informal supports. Group comparisons are conducted between junior male, junior female, senior male, and senior female service members. The key mediational path in the model for all groups is the connection between social involvement and willingness to seek help via trust in formal systems. These results can inform both unit- and community-level interventions intended to increase the likelihood that active-duty AF members will seek help in times of need

    The Willingness of Military Members to Seek Help: The Role of Social Involvement and Social Responsibility

    Get PDF
    Anchored in the social organization theory of action and change, we use data from a large sample of active-duty Air Force members to examine the direct and indirect influence of social involvement and social responsibility on willingness to seek help in times of need via trust in formal systems and informal supports. Group comparisons are conducted between junior male, junior female, senior male, and senior female service members. The key mediational path in the model for all groups is the connection between social involvement and willingness to seek help via trust in formal systems. These results can inform both unit- and community-level interventions intended to increase the likelihood that active-duty AF members will seek help in times of need
    • …
    corecore