Juliana Beatriz Stover

Academic Motivation Scale: adaptation and psychometric analyses for high school and college students

The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), supported in Self-Determination Theory, has been applied in recent decades as well in high school as in college education. Although several versions in Spanish are available, the underlying linguistic and cultural differences raise important issues when they are applied to Latin-American population. Consequently an adapted version of the AMS was developed, and its construct validity was analyzed in Argentine students. Results obtained on a sample that included 723 students from Buenos Aires (393 high school and 330 college students) verified adequate psychometric properties in this new version, solving some controversies regarded to its dimensionality.

Personality Assessment Inventory: Psychometric Analyses of its Argentinean Version

This psychometric analysis of the Argentinean version of the Personality Assessment Inventory employed a convenience sample of 998 non-clinical adults from Buenos Aires, Argentina, stratified by sex and age (50% men; M age = 40.4 yr., SD = 16.8; 50% women; M age = 40.7 yr., SD = 17.4; 69% were employed). For a criterion validity study, a second sample of 394 students at the University of Buenos Aires was selected (47% men; M age = 24 yr., SD = 3.7; 53% women; M age = 23.6 yr., SD = 3.4). Cronbachs αs ranged from .60 to .86, indicating adequate internal consistency. Following American, German, and Spanish studies, a first analysis on the 22 scales obtained a five-factor solution (65.3% of total variance), and a second analysis on 11 clinical scales isolated a two-factor solution (69.3% of total variance). Correlations with the Symptom Checklist-90-R provided support for criterion validity. Most of the scales and subscales showed sex differences and differences between American and Argentinean samples. Future research must add other psychometric indicators.

Paradoxical personality scale: Its development and construct validity analysis

The development and construct validation process of the Paradoxical Personality Scale is presented in this paper. The concept assessed has been posed by Csikszentmihalyi (1996) and was described as related to creative individuals. Following his guidelines, 150 items were designed and judged by five experts, and later analysed from a facies standpoint. The resulting version was used in a sample of college students (n=473; 50.5% males, 49.5% females) from 18 to 35 years (= 21.82; DT= 3.14), to explore underlying dimensions. A 30item/6-factor solution was firstly isolated and after confirmed by a confirmatory factor analysis developed with 800 college students (44.4% males, 55.6% females), between18 and 35 years (= 23.47; DT= 3.30). Both samples were selected from the population of college students from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Internal consistency and temporal stability of scores were also tested, obtaining adequate coefficients in both cases, in view of the composition of the dimensions underlying the construct analysed. Results show acceptable psychometric properties as well as shortness and simplicity for data gathering, which are discussed taking into account theoretical models and new research lines.

Validez de constructo del LSB-50 en Adultos argentinos: validación cruzada e invarianza factorial

Resumen El trabajo se propone aportar evidencias de validez referidas al Listado de Sintomas Breve (LSB-50; de Rivera y Abuin, 2012), instrumento psicometrico de screening para medir sintomas psicologicos, analizadas en una muestra de adultos argentinos. Los participantes fueron 1291 individuos distribuidos proporcionalmente segun sexo (51% mujeres; 49% varones) con edades entre 18 y 89 anos ( M = 38.9, DE = 16.49). Se llevaron a cabo estudios de validacion cruzada e invarianza factorial para examinar si un modelo de siete factores que se correspondia con siete escalas clinicas (Hipersensibilidad, Obsesiones-Compulsiones, Ansiedad, Hostilidad, Somatizacion, Depresion, y Alteraciones del sueno) presentaba un ajuste adecuado y un funcionamiento similar en muestras diferenciadas segun sexo y edad de los evaluados. Esta estructura heptafactorial exhibio un buen ajuste en las cuatro submuestras. Tras analizar simultaneamente el ajuste en las submuestras mencionadas a traves de modelos jerarquicos en los que se impusieron distintas restricciones de igualdad, se arribo a resultados que indicaron la invarianza de las siete dimensiones del LSB-50. El calculo de alfas ordinales indico un buen nivel de consistencia interna para todas las escalas. Finalmente, las correlaciones con una medida externa de diagnostico de psicopatologia –el Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 2007)– indicaron, tal como se esperaba, una convergencia moderada. Se concluye que los analisis realizados proveen de contundentes evidencias de validez sobre los resultados arrojados por el LSB-50. Abstract This paper aims at obtaining evidence of validity of the LSB-50 (De Rivera & Abuin, 2012), a screening measure of psychopathology, in Argentinean adults. The sample consisted of 1291 individuals (49% males; 51% females) between 18 and 89 years-old ( M = 38.9, SD = 16.49). A cross-validation study and factorial invariance studies were performed to test, in samples divided by sex and age, if a seven-factor structure that corresponds to seven clinical scales (Hypersensitivity, Obsessive-Compulsive, Anxiety, Hostility, Somatization, Depression, and Sleep disturbance) was adequate for the LSB-50. The seven-factor structure showed a good fit in all the subsamples. Next, the fit of the seven-factor structure was studied simultaneously in the aforementioned subsamples, through hierarchical models that imposed different constrains of equivalency. Results indicated the invariance of the seven clinical dimensions of the LSB-50. Ordinal alphas showed good internal consistency for all the scales. Finally, correlations with a diagnostic measure of psychopathology –el Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 2007)– indicated, as expected, moderate convergence. It is concluded that the analyses performed provide robust evidence of construct validity for the LSB-50.