Randomized Trial of a Broad Preventive Intervention for Mexican American Adolescents

Objective—This randomized trial of a family-focused preventive intervention for Mexican American (MA) adolescents evaluated intervention effects on adolescent substance use, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and school discipline and grade records in 8th grade, one year after completion of the intervention. The study also examined hypothesized mediators and moderators of intervention effects. Method—Stratified by language of program delivery (English vs. Spanish), the trial included a sample of 516 MA adolescents (50.8% female; M =12.3 years, SD=.54) and at least one caregiver that were randomized to receive a low dosage control group workshop or the 9-week group intervention that included parenting, adolescent coping, and conjoint family sessions. Results—Positive program effects were found on all five outcomes at one-year posttest, but varied depending on whether adolescents, parents, or teachers reported on the outcome. Intervention effects were mediated by posttest changes in effective parenting, adolescent coping efficacy, adolescent school engagement, and family cohesion. The majority of direct and mediated effects were moderated by language, with a larger number of significant effects for families that participated in Spanish. Intervention effects also were moderated by baseline levels of mediators and outcomes, with the majority showing stronger effects for families with poorer functioning at baseline. Conclusion—Findings support the efficacy of the intervention to decrease multiple problem outcomes for MA adolescents, but also demonstrate differential effects for parents and adolescents receiving the intervention in Spanish vs. English, and depending on their baseline levels of functioning

Transformational Leadership and Incivility: A Multilevel and Longitudinal Test

This research examines group-level perceptions of transformational leadership (TFL) as negative longitudinal predictors of witnessing person-related (e.g., insults/affronts) and work-related (e.g., negation/intentional work overload) acts of incivility at work. Witnessing workplace incivility was also postulated to negatively predict employee need satisfaction. Data were collected among production employees in different Canadian plants of a major manufacturing company (N = 344) who worked for 42 different managers (Mgroup size= 9.76). Two waves of data collection occurred 1 year apart. Results from multilevel analyses showed that workgroups where managers were perceived to engage in more frequent TFL behaviors reported reduced levels of person- and work-related incivility 1 year later. However, group-level incivility did not predict change in group-level need satisfaction 1 year later. At the individual level, results showed that witnessing higher levels of person-related incivility than one’s colleagues predicted reduced satisfaction of the need for relatedness 1 year later. These longitudinal findings build upon previous literature by identifying TFL as a potential managerial strategy to reduce incivility in workgroups over time. They also show that mere exposure to workplace misbehavior still affects employees’ adjustment, suggesting that every effort to reduce deviance in workplaces is worthwhile

Afrikaans adaptation of the children’s hope scale: Validation and measurement invariance

The overarching aim of this study was to validate the Afrikaans version of Snyder’s (1997) Children’s Hope Scale in a sample of children from Cape Town, South Africa. Within this process, the study aimed to test the measurement invariance across the English and Afrikaans language versions. The study used a cross-sectional survey design, with a two-stage stratified random sample of 1022 children between the ages of 11- to 12-years-old. We selected the participants from 15 schools located in low and middle socio-economic status communities in the Cape Town Metropole. We used confirmatory factor analysis to analyse the data. The results indicated a good fit for the overall model using the pooled sample (X2 = 35.692; df = 7; p =.00; CFI =.984; RMSEA =.063; SRMR =.023). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis further demonstrated the tenability of metric and scalar invariance

Measurement invariance of the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF) across Albania, USA, UK, and Italy

The IGDS9-SF, which assesses Internet Gaming Disorder behaviors, has been validated in a number of countries (Portugal, Italy, Iran, Slovenia), although the psychometric equivalence of the instrument has been assessed only across Australia, the USA, the UK, and India. This research aimed at providing further cross-cultural insights into IGD by assessing the factorial structure of the IGDS9-SF in Albania and investigating its measurement invariance across Albanian, Italian, American, and British gamers. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses were performed on a sample of 1411 participants from Albania (n=228), USA (n=237), the UK (n=275), and Italy (n=671). The CFAs confirmed the single-factor structure in the four countries. Measurement invariance supported the configural invariance and partially supported the metric and scalar invariance. Overall, the findings provided evidence for the underlying factor assessing IGD across the countries, although the specific meaning of the construct was non-identical

Methodological issues in cross-cultural research

Regardless of whether the research goal is to establish cultural universals or to identify and explain cross-cultural differences, researchers need measures that are comparable across different cultures when conducting cross-cultural studies. In this chapter, we describe two major strategies for enhancing cross-cultural comparability. First, we discuss a priori methods to ensure the comparability of data in cross-cultural surveys. In particular, we review findings on cross-cultural differences based on the psychology of survey response and provide suggestions on how to deal with these cultural differences in the survey design stage. Second, we discuss post hoc methods to ascertain data comparability and enable comparisons in the presence of threats to equivalence

Comparisons of the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Spence children’s anxiety scale - parent version in children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing anxious children

The Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale - Parent version (SCAS-P) is often used to assess anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however, little is known about the validity of the tool in this population. The aim of this study was to determine whether the SCAS-P has the same factorial validity in a sample of young people with ASD (n=285), compared to a sample of typically developing young people with anxiety disorders (n=224). Poor model fit with all of the six hypothesised models precluded invariance testing. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that different anxiety phenomenology characterises the two samples. The findings suggest that cross-group comparisons between ASD and anxious samples based on the SCAS-P scores may not always be appropriat

Children’s subjective well-being: Multi-group analysis among a sample of children from two socio-economic status groups in the Western Cape, South Africa

Recent advancements in child well-being research have shown an increased importance of subjective well-being in understanding children and adolescents’ quality of life. These advancements have raised questions concerning the extent to which children’s subjective perceptions and experiences of well-being can be compared between countries and across diverse cultures. With a dearth of empirical data on cross-cultural comparisons, the validation of existing measures and cross-cultural comparisons have been identified by a number of researchers as critical in contributing to this process, and ultimately to the international dialogue on children’s overall quality of life. The aim of the current study was to test two measures of subjective well-being (the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale and the Personal Well-Being Index-School Children) among a sample of children in the Western Cape region of South Africa. Noting the diversity of living experiences between children from different socio-economic status groups in South Africa, the study further aimed to determine the extent to which the measures are comparable across socio-economic status groups. Data from the first wave of the Children’s World Survey were used; and included a sample of 1004 12 year old children randomly selected from 15 schools within the Cape Town Metropole. Located within the goodness of fit theoretical framework, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling was used to test the overall fit structure; while multi-group factor analysis was used to test measurement invariance across socio-economic status groups. The results show appropriate fit structure for the overall model, with metric and scalar factor invariance tenable across socio-economic status groups. The overall findings suggest that the two measures are appropriate for use with children from low and middle socio-economic status groups in the Western Cape province of South Africa and that the two groups can be compared by correlations, regressions and means.IS