Bias and equivalence of the Strengths Use and Deficit Correction Questionnaire

Orientation: For optimal outcomes, it is suggested that employees receive support from their organisation to use their strengths and improve their deficits. Employees also engage in proactive behaviour to use their strengths and improve their deficits. Following this conversation, the Strengths Use and Deficit Correction Questionnaire (SUDCO) was developed. However, the cultural suitability of the SUDCO has not been confirmed. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the bias and structural equivalence of the SUDCO. Motivation for the study: In a diverse cultural context such as South Africa, it is important to establish that a similar score on a psychological test has the same psychological meaning across ethnic groups. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was followed to collect data among a convenience sample of 858 employees from various occupational sectors in South Africa. Main findings: Confirmatory multigroup analysis was used to test for item and construct bias. None of the items were biased, neither uniform nor non-uniform. The most restrictive model accounted for similarities in weights, intercepts and means; only residuals were different. Practical/managerial implications: The results suggest that the SUDCO is suitable for use among the major ethnic groups included in this study. These results increase the probability that future studies with the SUDCO among other ethnic groups will be unbiased and equivalent. Contribution: This study contributed to existing literature because no previous research has assessed the bias and equivalence of the SUDCO among ethnic groups in South Africa

The assessment of emotional awareness in children: validation of the levels of emotional awareness scale for children

The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) is a widely used scenario-based instrument that has been developed for the measurement of emotional awareness in adults. Although the LEAS has been validated in numerous studies, published validity research on the recently developed child version (LEAS-C) is scarce. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the construct validity of the Dutch LEAS-C in a sample of 318 children, aged 10 to 17 years. Outcomes revealed novel structural evidence in favor of alternative design-driven modeling. Further, the pattern of relationships with ability- and trait-oriented emotional intelligence, intelligence, personality, social and emotional impairment, and gender was generally consistent with previous theorizing and adult studies on the LEAS. Reasons for absence of age differences are discussed. In conclusion, this study corroborates the construct validity of the LEAS-C and highlights the importance of fully exploring the LEAS-C in its potential. Directions for future research are proposed

Schooling and basic aspects of intelligence: A natural quasi-experiment in Malawi

The relationship between educational age and chronological age and measures of information processing and intelligence was studied in a group of children of 7 to 14 years of age (N=268) in a rural area in the Ntcheu district (Malawi). There was a relatively weak relationship between chronological and educational age in this area, and the impact of factors often threatening the validity of the comparisons of schooled and unschooled children, such as socioeconomic status and sex, was small. Reaction time measures of different levels of cognitive complexity and Raven test scores showed significant relations with chronological age, educational age, and their interaction. The strength of the relations was similar for these three variables. These findings are in line with a view that in middle childhood and early adolescence basic information processing and intelligence are not enhanced by schooling and develop along similar lines in schooled and unschooled children. Our results suggest that the schooling is more efficacious by addressing skill transfer and the development of metacognitive knowledge than by addressing basic information processing

Bias and equivalence of the Strengths Use and Deficit COrrection Questionnaire in a South African context

Orientation: Developing personnel into skilled employees is a major focus of managers and companies. Doing this in a valid way in a cross-culturally diverse working environment may be challenging. It is, therefore, important to investigate the cultural consistency of new tools that assist managers in reaching these personnel development goals. Research purpose: Determine whether the Strengths Use and Deficit COrrection (SUDCO) questionnaire is universally applicable across the Nguni, Sesotho and West-Germanic language groups in South Africa by evaluating it statistically for bias and equivalence. Motivation for the study: South African personnel management could gain valuable insights and outcomes when they aim to improve both strengths and weaknesses. Research design, approach and method: The study employed semi-stratified sampling. A sample (N = 658) of employees in the banking sector participated in the study. The research focused on psychometric properties relating to bias, structural equivalence and reliability. Main findings: A four-factor model fitted the data best. This model described perceived organisational support (POS) for strengths use, POS for deficit correction, strengths-use behaviour and deficit-correction behaviour. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis for the direct comparison of the SUDCO’s fit across the language groups (Nguni, Sesotho and WestGermanic) showed the 33 were unbiased against any of the three language groups and structured into the same four latent constructs. Practical implications: In personnel development, employees and managers should understand the benefits of a combined strengths and deficit approach as relating to different language groups. Contribution: The study contributes to literature a cross-culturally validated measure for the assessment of strengths and deficits

Schooling and everyday cognitive development among Kharwar children in India: A natural experiment

The confounding of chronological and educational age and of schooling and socioeconomic status are persistent problems in the study of the cognitive consequences of schooling. The educational system among the Kharwar in India provides a natural experiment to overcome these problems, since it shows neither source of confounding. The sample comprised of 201 schooled and unschooled Kharwar children from 6 to 9 years of age. The test battery contained tests of mathematics and memory with formal and local stimulus content, as well as tests of inductive reasoning, analogies, fluency, picture vocabulary, and numbers. Confirmatory factor analyses supported similar hierarchical factor structures, with general intelligence in the apex, for both unschooled and schooled children. The per annum score increments of chronological age were about twice as large as those of educational age. These findings illustrate the important role of everyday experiences in the development of basic features of cognitive functioning

Intelligence 2.0 in I-O psychology: revival or contextualization?

No abstract is available for this article

A historical analysis of empirical studies published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1970-2004

Based on a random sample of 200 empirical articles, the present study made a historical analysis of the contents of Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (JCCP) in the period between 1970 and 2004. In comparison to older studies, recent studies tended to be more social-psychological, and more often employed self-reports, based the choice of cultures on theoretical grounds, and adopted a hypothesis-testing approach. A persistent strong focus on cross-cultural differences and a simultaneous underrating of cross-cultural similarities was found. The majority of studies in which only cross-cultural differences were expected, reported differences and similarities. Methodological and conceptual improvements characterized the past 35 years of publications in JCCP