Psychometric Evaluation of the Tagalog and German Subjective Happiness Scales and a Cross-Cultural Comparison

The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) has recently been developed as a more complete measure for the assessment of molar subjective happiness. In the present study, we report on the translation and validation of German and Tagalog versions of the SHS and conduct an initial cross-cultural examination of subjective happiness. In Study 1, 960 participants in Austria completed a German version of the SHS, which showed a unidimensional structure, good internal consistency, and good convergent validity with other measures of subjective well-being. In Study 2, 182 participants in the Philippines completed a Tagalog version of the scale, which likewise had a unidimensional structure, high internal consistency, and good convergent validity. Finally, the results of Study 3 indicate that there were significant cross-cultural differences in subjective happiness. Specifically, participants in individualist Austria and Britain had higher SHS scores than their counterparts in collectivist Malaysia and the Philippines. Limitations of these studies are discussed.     

Validation of the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire in Greek and psychosocial characteristics of pregnant women with fear of childbirth

BackgroundFear of childbirth has been found to be a factor that influences women's decision about their choice of delivery. The investigation of psychological factors that relate to fear of childbirth as well as the validation of the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ) can help identify pregnant women with high fear of childbirth.AimThis study aimed to (a) translate and validate the Childbirth Attitude Questionnaire in Greek and (b) explore how fear of childbirth was related to childbirth self-efficacy, state anxiety, depression, neuroticism, self-esteem and optimism.Methods145 nulliparous pregnant women, in late pregnancy, attending routine antenatal visit in a private maternity clinic participated. All participants completed the CAQ (fear of childbirth) and other self-report questionnaires that measured childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem, optimism, neuroticism, state anxiety and depressive symptomatology. Factor structure was investigated using principal axis factoring. Cronbach's α was used to measure internal consistency reliability. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated between all study variables, followed by multiple linear regression.FindingsThe factor analysis suggested the existence of one-factor structure. Construct validity was confirmed by computing correlations between the CAQ and childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism. Multivariate analysis showed that childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism were negatively and significantly associated with fear of childbirth.Conclusion and implications for practiceThe Greek version of the CAQ is a reliable and valid measure. The clinical use of CAQ may enable midwives and other health care professionals to identify pregnant women with low childbirth confidence and to provide information and support.     

Testing serial correlation in partially linear models with validation data

This article investigates the testing for serial correlation in partially linear models with validation data and applies the empirical likelihood methods to construct serial tests statistics, and then we derive the asymptotic distribution of the test statistics under null hypothesis. Simulation results show that our method performs well.     

Empirical Likelihood for First-order Autoregressive Error-in-variable of Models With Validation Data

In this article, we consider the empirical likelihood for the autoregressive error-in-explanatory variable models. With the help of validation, we first develop an empirical likelihood ratio test statistic for the parameters of interest, and prove that its asymptotic distribution is that of a weighted sum of independent standard χ²₁ random variables with unknown weights. Also, we propose an adjusted empirical likelihood and prove that its asymptotic distribution is a standard χ². Furthermore, an empirical likelihood-based confidence region is given. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method works well for practical situations.     

A Stepwise AIC Method for Variable Selection in Linear Regression

In this article, we study stepwise AIC method for variable selection comparing with other stepwise method for variable selection, such as, Partial F, Partial Correlation, and Semi-Partial Correlation in linear regression modeling. Then we show mathematically that the stepwise AIC method and other stepwise methods lead to the same method as Partial F. Hence, there are more reasons to use the stepwise AIC method than the other stepwise methods for variable selection, since the stepwise AIC method is a model selection method that can be easily managed and can be widely extended to more generalized models and applied to non normally distributed data. We also treat problems that always appear in applications, that are validation of selected variables and problem of collinearity.     

Empirical likelihood dimension reduction inference for partially non-linear error-in-responses models with validation data

ABSTRACT

In this article, partially non linear models when the response variable is measured with error and explanatory variables are measured exactly are considered. Without specifying any error structure equation, a semiparametric dimension reduction technique is employed. Two estimators of unknown parameter in non linear function are obtained and asymptotic normality is proved. In addition, empirical likelihood method for parameter vector is provided. It is shown that the estimated empirical log-likelihood ratio has asymptotic Chi-square distribution. A simulation study indicates that, compared with normal approximation method, empirical likelihood method performs better in terms of coverage probabilities and average length of the confidence intervals.     

对经过重建和调整后的我国婴儿死亡率的验证

本文根据婴儿死亡率随人均GDP的动态变化规律筛选最佳验证模型,验证了时间序列模型重新构建的1952－1980年婴儿死亡率和调整校正的1981－1990年婴儿死亡率。结果表明幂函数形式为相对较好的验证模型,拟合精度稍逊于时间序列预测模型,验证模型与时间序列模型的预测结果与历史婴儿死亡率比较,变异程度无显著差异,且预测结果与建立国家儿童死亡监测网络后的国家监测地区婴儿死亡率形成了平稳性过渡。文章认为以时间序列模型重新构建和调整校正的婴儿死亡率比较可靠,更加接近当时的实际水平。     

Validation of prognostic indices using the frailty model

A major issue when proposing a new prognostic index is its generalisibility to daily clinical practice. Validation is therefore required. Most validation techniques assess whether “on average” the results obtained by the prognostic index in classifying patients in a new sample of patients are similar to the results obtained in the construction set. We introduce a new important aspect of the generalisibility of a prognostic index: the heterogeneity of the prognostic index risk group hazard ratios over different centers. If substantial variability between centers exists, the prognostic index may have no discriminatory capability in some of the centers. To model such heterogeneity, we use a frailty model including a random center effect and a random prognostic index by center interaction. Statistical inference is based on a Bayesian approach using a Laplacian approximation for the marginal posterior distribution of the variances of the random effects. We investigate different ways to summarize the information available from this marginal posterior distribution. Our approach is applied to a real bladder cancer database for which we demonstrate how to investigate and interpret heterogeneity in prognostic index effect over centers.     

农村经济发展与化肥使用量的 库兹涅茨曲线假说及验证

文章主要研究农村经济发展与化肥使用量之间的关系,提出两者之间的库兹涅茨曲线假说。通过构建农户选择行为模型,从理论上对两者存在库兹涅茨曲线关系给出微观解释。在此基础上,采用1978--2008年的时问序列数据进行了实证检验,结果表明：农村经济发展与化肥使用量之间存在库兹涅茨曲线关系,转折点发生在农村人均农业总产值为547．67元（1978年不变价）的时点,即与国家统计局统计数据比较,转折点发生在2008年。     

Development and validation of the Legitimate Monitoring and Control Questionnaire (LMCQ)

In this paper, we present the multidimensional Legitimate Monitoring and Control Questionnaire (LMCQ), which is based on social-exchange and institutional theory. Our aim was to develop and validate a widely applicable leadership inventory that accounts for comparable criterion variance as transformational leadership. While transformational leadership scales emphasize charismatic or visionary behavior, the basis for the LMCQ is the belief that perceptions of control legitimacy are essential and lead to high-quality social-exchange relationships between supervisors and subordinates. To build the dimensions comprising the LMCQ, an exploratory study (study 1, 38 respondents) was conducted to investigate which kinds of socioemotional benefits actually drive subordinates' perceptions of control legitimacy. The interview data were used to compile an initial item pool that was condensed as a subsequent step (study 2, 494 respondents). Lastly, the resulting measurement instrument representing six dimensions of legitimacy-enhancing supervisory behavior was validated (study 3, 936 respondents).