Factorial Validity and Invariance of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Among Portuguese Youngsters

The purpose of the present study was to examine the reliability, factorial validity and measurement invariance (across gender, age and physical activity participation) of a Portuguese version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). The sample consisted of 1,763 Portuguese youngsters (731 male and 1,032 female) with ages between 15 and 20 years. Reliability estimate for the one-factor solution was .845, although some proposed RSES’s underlying dimensions were lower than .70. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the best-fitting model was a single self-esteem factor, plus simultaneous correlated uniqueness for positively and negatively worded items. Multigroup analysis supported measurement invariance across age and physical activity participation, and partial metric invariance across gender, as three items failed to show metric equivalence. These results provide evidence that RSES has excellent psychometric properties and it is a valid self-esteem measure to be used among Portuguese youngsters.     

Invariance Testing of the SF-36 Health Survey in Women Breast Cancer Survivors: Do Personal and Cancer-related Variables Influence the Meaning of Quality of Life Items?

Quality of life (QoL) is affected by issues specific to illness trajectory and thus, may differ, and potentially take on different meanings, at different stages in the cancer process. A widely used measure of QoL is the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36; Ware 1993); therefore, support for its appropriateness in a given population is imperative. The current study aimed to examine the conceptual (measurement) model of the SF-36, as well as closely related models, and test the measurement invariance of the SF-36 to determine if meaningful comparisons could be made among three groups of breast cancer survivors (N = 358 [data collected in 2007–2008]; divided on time since treatment, type of treatment, and age). Good model fit was found for one of three models based on the original design of this instrument—the items to subscales model. Two models were considered for measurement invariance testing: (a) items to physical health/mental health and (b) items to subscales. Strong invariance was found for time since treatment and type of treatment for both models. Weak invariance was found for age in the first model, while strict invariance was confirmed for the subscales model. Group comparisons in QoL were made where justified. Significant differences were found only on age for physical functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems, vitality, mental health, and social functioning. Overall, results suggest that while the SF-36 can be used to examine differences in QoL for various breast cancer survivors, some conceptual issues with this instrument need to be further examined.     

Measuring Attitudes About Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: The ATT-IPV Scale

In lower-income settings, women more often than men justify intimate partner violence (IPV). Yet, the role of measurement invariance across gender is unstudied. We developed the ATT-IPV scale to measure attitudes about physical violence against wives in 1,055 married men and women ages 18–50 in My Hao district, Vietnam. Across 10 items about transgressions of the wife, women more often than men agreed that a man had good reason to hit his wife (3 % to 92 %; 0 % to 67 %). In random split-half samples, one-factor exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (N ₁ = 527) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (N ₂ = 528) models for nine items with sufficient variability had significant loadings (0.575–0.883; 0.502–0.897) and good fit (RMSEA = 0.068, 0.048; CFI = 0.951, 0.978, TLI = 0.935, 0.970). Three items had significant uniform differential item functioning (DIF) by gender, and adjustment for DIF revealed that measurement noninvariance was partially masking men’s lower propensity than women to justify IPV. A CFA model for the six items without DIF had excellent fit (RMSEA = 0.019, CFI = 0.994, TLI = 0.991) and an attitudinal gender gap similar to the DIF-adjusted nine-item model, suggesting that the six-item scale reliably measures attitudes about IPV across gender. Researchers should validate the scale in urban Vietnam and elsewhere and decompose DIF-adjusted gender attitudinal gaps.     

Measurement Invariance in Multilingual Survey Research: The Role of the Language of the Questionnaire

This paper examines whether or not survey measures asked to two linguistic groups exhibit invariance within a country. It tests configural, metric and scalar invariance in a model that distinguishes the response component and the cognitive component of the measurement process using survey items. Our findings show that when differences in the response process are allowed, concepts are (partially) invariant across groups. The analysis is conducted for items measuring some aspects of political trust and satisfaction with politics for six linguistic groups including French, Dutch, Estonian, German, Ukrainian and Russian in four countries. Data comes from the European Social Survey.     

Validation of the Orientation to Life Questionnaire in Norwegian Adolescents,Construct Validity Across Samples

In spite of the potential significance of sense of coherence (SOC) for adolescent health and well-being, the past decades have yielded limited progress in investigating the psychometric properties of the most used inventory measuring SOC, The Orientation of Life Questionnaire (OLQ) in adolescents. The present study aimed at investigating the factorial validity and reliability of the Norwegian version of the 13 item OLQ based on two adolescent samples 13–18 years from Norway. Concerning the dimensionality of the OLQ, two measurement models were tested using confirmatory factor analysis; a one-factor model and a three-factor-model. The results showed that a three-factor solution with correlated residual variances between item 2 and item 3 showed the best fit across the two adolescent samples, although five items revealed low factor loadings. The dimensions were highly correlated and showed adequate composite reliability. The present results indicate that the 13 item OLQ has potential as an instrument assessing SOC in adolescents. However, more psychometric testing of the instrument is required in reference to the modified factor structure and the low reliability found on some of the items in OLQ.     

Psychometric Properties of the PsychoSomatic Problems Scale: A Rasch Analysis on Adolescent Data

The PsychoSomatic Problems (PSP)-scale is built upon eight items intended to tap information about psychosomatic problems among schoolchildren and adolescents in general populations. The purpose of the study is to analyse the psychometric properties of the PSP-scale by means of the Rasch model, with a focus on the operating characteristics of the items. Cross-sectional adolescent data collected in Sweden at six points in time between 1988 and 2005 are used for the analysis. In all more than 15,000 students aged 15–16 are included in the analysis. Data were examined with respect to invariance across the latent trait, Differential Item Functioning (DIF), item categorisation and unidimensionality. The results show that the PSP-scale adequately meets measurement criteria of invariance and proper categorisation of the items. Also the targeting is good and the reliability is high. Since the scale works invariantly across years of investigation it is appropriate for re-current monitoring of psychosomatic health complaints in general populations of adolescents. Taking DIF into account through principles of equating provides a scale that shows no statistically significant signs of gender-DIF enabling invariant comparisons also between boys and girls.     

Measurement Invariance of Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Scales Across Italian and Belarusian Students

Cross-cultural researches on the Ryff’s Psychological Well-being (PWB) Scales are currently not available. The aim of the paper was to investigate the measurement invariance of the 18-item version of the PWB Scales across 1,114 high school and undergraduate Italian and Belarusian students. After identifying the six correlated first-order factors and one second-order factor model of the Ryff’s PWB Scales, as baseline model for each sample, multi-groups confirmatory factor analyses were subsequently performed. All analyses were performed using the Robust Diagonally Weighted Least Squares estimation procedures, entering a polychoric correlation matrix. Multi-groups analyses showed that factor structure of the preferred model did not change across the Italian and Belarusian samples. Although the obtained results provided a preliminary support for cross-cultural structural invariance of the PWB Scales, further investigations are required to ensure its generalizability and applicability. Limitations and suggestions for future researches as well as psychosocial applications for educational context were discussed.     

Investigating Longitudinal and Cross Cultural Measurement Invariance of Inglehart’s Short Post-materialism Scale

Inglehart applies a four item ranking scale to measure post-materialism which is used for cross-cultural and cross-temporal comparative purposes. The aim of this research is to test measurement invariance of the scale to establish to what extent the scale produces comparable results in time and between countries. We use Eurobarometer data to test longitudinal comparability for ten countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, West-Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain and North Ireland) over a period of 20 years (1976–1997). With the exception of Denmark the within-country longitudinal comparisons indicate that measurement invariance is a tenable assumption. However, the findings of the cross-cultural analyses indicate that the meaning assigned to the four items differs slightly between countries, indicating a lack of comparability of the average level of post-materialism between countries. Findings also suggest that a lack of unidimensionality of the scale might cause this incomparability.     

Happiness in Italy: Translation,Factorial Structure and Norming of the Subjective Happiness Scale in a Large Community Sample

The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is one of the most commonly used measures of happiness. Many translations and validation studies have been carried out in different countries and languages. The aim of the current paper was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the SHS and to provide normative data. The SHS was administered with life satisfaction items, anxiety and depression scales to a community sample of 993 participants, aged 18–85 years, living in different parts of Italy. Age and gender distributions were stratified according to the population pyramid. Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the unidimensionality of the SHS, with acceptable fit indexes (NNFI = .96; CFI = .99; RMSEA = .08; 95 % C.I. [.04–.12]). Multi-group analyses supported total invariance of the SHS measurement model for males and females, and partial invariance for younger (i.e., 18–44 years old) and older (i.e., 45–85 years old) participants. Significant correlations with satisfaction items, anxiety and depression provided evidence for concurrent validity. These findings showed that the Italian SHS translation is a reliable and valid tool, which adds to existing translations and validation studies in different countries and languages.     

Can We Trust Measures of Political Trust? Assessing Measurement Equivalence in Diverse Regime Types

Do standard “trust in government” survey questions deliver measures which are reliable and equivalent in meaning across diverse regime types? I test for the measurement equivalence of political trust in a sample of 35 former Soviet and European countries using the 2010 Life in Transition Survey II conducted by the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Employing multiple group confirmatory factor analysis, I find that trust perceptions in central political institutions differ from (1) trust in regional and local political institutions, (2) trust in protective institutions like the armed forces and police and (3) trust in order institutions like the courts and police. Four measurement models achieve partial metric invariance and two reach partial scalar invariance in most countries, allowing for comparisons of correlates using latent factors from each model. I also found some clustering of measurement error and variation in the dimensionality of political trust between democratic and autocratic portions of the sample. On some measurement parameters, therefore, respondents in diverse cultures and regime types do not have equivalent understandings of political trust. The findings offer both optimism and a note of caution for researchers using political trust measures in cross-regime contexts.     

Measurement and structural invariance of the US version of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) in a large sample

Background

The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is being increasingly used internationally. The use of the measure and the concept has gathered traction in the United States following the development of a US version of the tool. A limitation of previous studies of the measurement characteristics of the BSS-R is modest sample size. Unplanned pregnancy is recognised as being associated with a range of negative birth outcomes, but the relationship to birth satisfaction has received little attention, despite the importance of birth satisfaction to a range of postnatal outcomes.

Fifty Years After the Social Indicators Movement: Has the Promise Been Fulfilled?

In spite of its currency both in academic research and political rhetoric, there are numerous attempts to define and conceptualize the social cohesion concept but there has been paid little attention to provide a rigorous and empirically tested definition. There are even fewer studies that address social cohesion in a framework of cross-cultural validation of the indicators testing the equivalence of the factorial structure across countries. Finally, as far as we know there is no study that attempt to provide an empirically tested multilevel definition of social cohesion specifying a Multilevel Structural Equation Model. This study aims to cover this gap. First, we provide a theoretical construct of social cohesion taking into account not only its multidimensionality but also its multilevel structure. In the second step, to test the validity of this theoretical construct, we perform a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis in order to verify if the conceptual structure suggested in first step holds. In addition, we test the cross-level structural equivalence and the measurement invariance of the model in order to verify if the same multilevel model of social cohesion holds across the 29 countries analysed. In the final step, we specify a second-order multilevel CFA model in order to identify the existence of a general factor that can be called “social cohesion” operating in society that accounts for the surface phenomena that we observe.     

Measuring Loneliness Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: The UCLA and de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scales

This study examined the measurement and invariance properties of the R-UCLA and de Jong Gierveld loneliness scales for research involving middle-aged and older adults. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) of data from interviews with adults aged 45–84 revealed limited support for the unidimensionality of either scale while subsequent analyses indicated the multidimensionality of both. However, method effects associated with positive and negative item wording were also evident. Multiple group CFAs provided limited support for assumptions of measurement invariance across age groups and from baseline to follow-up with regard to the R-UCLA scale. In contrast, strong measurement invariance across age groups and successive measurements was established for the bi-dimensional dJG scale. Overall, the findings supported the relative utility of the dJG scale for research involving middle-aged and older adults but suggested a need for attention to the implications of method effects associated with item wording and lack of measurement invariance with respect to item residuals.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Life Satisfaction Index

Factor models of the construct of well-being in later life have shown mixed results. Here we evaluated the factor structure of the Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA), a widely used measure. Confirmatory factor analyses using a sample of community living aged people (N = 187) suggested that a unidimensional model was not appropriate for the scale. Moreover, only two of the 10 models previously proposed for the LSIA was found to fit reasonably well. These models (Bigot, 1974; Hoyt and Creech, 1983) consisted of only eight of the 20 LSIA items. Models which utilized all 20 LSIA items tended to fit poorly, whereas, those based on subsets of items generally showed improved fit. Allowing correlated factors also improved the fit. Throughout, fit indices were computed using the Satorra-Bentler scaled test statistic because the data were not normally distributed. These results highlight the importance of theory and construct development prior to actual scale development in social indicators research.     

Testing for Measurement Invariance in the Satisfaction with Life Scale: A Comparison of Russians and North Americans

This study examined the comparability of Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) [Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985, Social Indicators Research, 34: 7–32] scores across U.S. and Russian student and community groups. Criteria for weak measurement invariance were met when comparing U.S. and Russian groups (combining student and community samples). Criteria for weak and strong measurement invariance were met when comparing the U.S. and Russian student samples. However, when comparing the U.S. and Russian community samples, the results showed a significant statistic for a baseline model, indicating a lack of comparability across samples. The costs of failing to meet criteria for weak, strong, and strict measurement invariance are discussed. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Multiple-Indicator Multilevel Growth Model: A Solution to Multiple Methodological Challenges in Longitudinal Studies

This paper described the versatility of the multiple-indicator multilevel (MIML) model in helping to resolve four common challenges in studying growth using longitudinal data. These challenges are (1) how to deal with changes in measurement over time and investigate temporal measurement invariance, (2) how to model residual dependence due to the nested nature of longitudinal data, (3) how to model observed trajectories that do not follow well-known functions commonly discussed in the methodology literature (e.g., a linear or quadratic curve), and (4) how to decide which predictors are relatively more important in explaining individuals’ change over time. With an example of psychological well-being from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we illustrated how the four methodological challenges can be resolved using the 3-phase MIML procedures and the Pratt’s importance measures.     

A New Approach to the Study of Tolerance: Conceptualizing and Measuring Acceptance,Respect, and Appreciation of Difference

Previous empirical research on tolerance suffers from a number of shortcomings, the most serious being the conceptual and operational conflation of (in)tolerance and prejudice. We design research to remedy this. First, we contribute to the literature by advancing research that distinguishes analytically between the two phenomena. We conceptualize tolerance as a value orientation towards difference. This definition—which is abstract and does not capture attitudes towards specific out-groups, ideas, or behaviors—allows for the analysis of tolerance within and between societies. Second, we improve the measurement of tolerance by developing survey items that are consistent with this conceptualization. We administer two surveys, one national (Sweden) and one cross-national (Australia, Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden, and the United States). Results from structural equation models show that tolerance is best understood as a three-dimensional concept, which includes acceptance of, respect for, and appreciation of difference. Analyses show that measures of tolerance have metric invariance across countries, and additional tests demonstrate convergent and discriminant validity. We also assess tolerance’s relationship to prejudice and find that only an appreciation of difference has the potential to reduce prejudice. We conclude that it is not only possible to measure tolerance in a way that is distinct from prejudice but also necessary if we are to understand the causes and consequences of tolerance.

     

Learning,Interaction and Relationships as Components of Student Well-being: Differences Between Classes from Student and Teacher Perspective

The attitudes of students to their school, teachers and peers were investigated with 1,540 students in grade six from 30 schools and 78 classes. Using structural equation modelling, the students’ perceptions of well-being were investigated at class level using seven items with high reliability. Their well-being was dependent on at least three factors: students’ learning (seven items), student-to-student interaction (six items) and teacher–student relationships as described by students (ten items). Together, these factors explained 72 % of the variability of well-being between classes. The students’ well-being appeared to be significantly different between schools and between classes in the same school. The teachers’ opinions of their classes with the highest class score for well-being were compared with the lowest. The differences in the evaluation of the teachers’ own classes explain a number of critical issues which impact on educational outcomes. Students need to be aware of the combined effects of learning and socialisation.     

Inner Wellbeing: Concept and Validation of a New Approach to Subjective Perceptions of Wellbeing—India

This paper describes the conceptual development of a multi-domain, psychosocial model of ‘Inner Wellbeing’ (IWB) and assesses the construct validity of the scale designed to measure it. IWB expresses what people think and feel they are able to be and do. Drawing together scholarship in wellbeing and international development it is grounded in field research in marginalised, rural communities in the global South. Results from research in India at two points in time (2011 and 2013) are reported. At Time 1 (n = 287), we were unable to confirm an eight-factor, correlated model as distinct yet interrelated domains. However, at Time 2 (n = 335), we were able to confirm a revised, seven-factor correlated model with economic confidence, agency and participation, social connections, close relationships, physical and mental health, competence and self-worth, and values and meaning (five items per domain) as distinct yet interrelated domains. In particular, at Time 2, a seven-factor, correlated model provided a significantly better fit to the data than did a one-factor model.