Neighbourhood social capital and adolescent self-reported wellbeing in New Zealand: a multilevel analysis

The association between neighbourhood social capital and individual health and wellbeing has been explored mainly by focussing on adult outcomes. This study explores the relationship between neighbourhood social capital and adolescent subjective wellbeing, and its interaction with adolescents' socioeconomic status. Data was taken from a random sample of 9107 students who participated in a nationally representative health survey of high school students in New Zealand in 2007. Students' wellbeing was measured by questions on general mood, life satisfaction and WHO-5 Wellbeing Index. Neighbourhood social capital was assessed according to five indicators: neighbourhood social cohesion, facilities, physical disintegration, membership in community organisations, and residential stability. All neighbourhood measures were created based on students' responses aggregated to the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhood was defined as a Census Area Unit, with a median population of 2000 people. Analyses included only neighbourhoods with more than 10 students, and were conducted using cross-classified random intercept multilevel models controlling for students' age, sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, with both schools and neighbourhoods treated as random effects. A total of 5567 students within 262 neighbourhoods were considered in the analysis. Students living in neighbourhoods characterised by higher levels of social cohesion and membership in community organisations reported higher levels of wellbeing. The association between student self-reported wellbeing and neighbourhood membership in community organisations varied according to the individual socioeconomic status of students. Neighbourhood membership in community organisations showed a stronger protective effect for students who were more socioeconomically deprived.

Brazilian-Portuguese Empathy Quotient: Evidences of its Construct Validity and Reliability

Empathy is the ability to read other's mind and understand their intentions. This paper examines the psychometric properties of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of a short form of the empathy quotient (EQ, 15 items). The EQ-15 was administered to 237 participants from the general population from João Pessoa, Brazil. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the tripartite model with cognitive, emotional and social empathy factors. In line with other studies, gender differences were only observed for the first two factors, with female participants scoring higher on both, which suggests that the social factor might not constitute a truly dimension of empathy. Strong evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was only observed for the cognitive factor. The poor psychometric parameters of the emotional and social factors are argued to reflect the complexity and contrasting ideas of their items. The possibility of elaborating specific items for the emotional and social factors is also discussed.

The interplay between knowledge, perceived efficacy, and concern about global warming and climate change: a one-year longitudinal study

If the long-term goal of limiting warming to less than 2°C is to be achieved, rapid and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are required. These reductions will demand political leadership and widespread public support for action on global warming and climate change. Public knowledge, level of concern, and perceived personal efficacy, in positively affecting these issues are key variables in understanding public support for mitigation action. Previous research has documented some contradictory associations between knowledge, personal efficacy, and concern about global warming and climate change, but these cross-sectional findings limit inferences about temporal stability and direction of influence. This study examines the relationships between these three variables over a one-year period and three waves with national data from New Zealand. Results showed a positive association between the variables, and the pattern of findings was stable and consistent across the three data points. More importantly, results indicate that concern mediates the influence of knowledge on personal efficacy. Knowing more about global warming and climate change increases overall concern about the risks of these issues, and this increased concern leads to greater perceived efficacy and responsibility to help solving them. Implications for risk communication are discussed.

Escala de Vitalidade Subjetiva - EVS: evidências de sua adequação psicométrica

Esta pesquisa objetivou reunir evidências psicométricas de adequação da Escala de Vitalidade Subjetiva (EVS), realizando-se três estudos. No Estudo 1 200 estudantes universitários responderam a EVS. O instrumento mostrou uma estrutura fatorial unidimensional (α = 0,73). No Estudo 2 participaram outros 200 estudantes universitários que responderam o mesmo questionário. Uma análise fatorial confirmatória (AFC) corroborou esta estrutura, embora o item 2 tenha sido pouco adequado. Assim, realizou-se nova AFC excluindo-o. Os resultados foram melhores do que quando considerados todos os itens (α = 0,75). O Estudo 3 replicou estes resultados com 200 professores do ensino fundamental, testando também a validade convergente da EVS com a satisfação com a vida. Concluiu-se que este instrumento reúne evidências psicométricas que apóiam seu uso.

Contextualism as an Important Facet of Individualism-Collectivism

Beliefs about personhood are understood to be a defining feature of individualism-collectivism (I-C), but they have been insufficiently explored, given the emphasis of research on values and self-construals. We propose the construct of contextualism, referring to beliefs about the importance of context in understanding people, as a facet of cultural collectivism. A brief measure was developed and refined across 19 nations (Study 1: N = 5,241), showing good psychometric properties for cross-cultural use and correlating well at the nation level with other supposed facets and indicators of I-C. In Study 2 ( N = 8,652), nation-level contextualism predicted ingroup favoritism, corruption, and differential trust of ingroup and outgroup members, while controlling for other facets of I-C, across 35 nations. We conclude that contextualism is an important part of cultural collectivism. This highlights the importance of beliefs alongside values and self-representations and contributes to a wider understanding of cultural processes.

Family social support during the predeparture period: the experience of British migrants

This study explored the stress, wellbeing and social support of predeparture British migrants to New Zealand. The main research questions addressed the relationship between family support and psychological outcomes, differences in migration desire between couples, and the impact of extended family support. A survey recruited 95 participants from online forums for migrants to New Zealand and results indicated that support from immediate family was related to better wellbeing and lower stress. Migrants who considered themselves the driving force behind the move reported significantly more stress and less family support than migrants who had partners who were equally enthusiastic about the move abroad. Sojourners perceived more support from extended family than did migrants who intended to leave permanently. The most difficult parts of the migration process were leaving loved ones, logistical demands, and uncertainty. The most positive parts of the process were adventure and becoming closer as a family. Overall, migration stress and coping began well before departure from the country of origin. This work was supported by a Victoria University of Wellington Faculty Strategic Research Grant.

Female gender but not season of birth is associated with mood seasonality in a near-equatorial Brazilian city

OBJECTIVE: Studies conducted mainly in countries located in the Northern Hemisphere have shown that season of birth influences mood seasonality. Greater mood seasonality has been observed for individuals born during spring/summer months than those born during autumn/winter months. Expanding past research to the Southern Hemisphere, in this study we examine the influence of season of birth on mood seasonality in a sample of 1,247 healthy young Brazilians. METHOD: The Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire was used to compute a global seasonality score as a measure of mood seasonality in a cross-sectional study. RESULTS: Analysis of covariance was conducted to examine the effects of month of birth and gender on mood seasonality, with age entered as a covariate. A main effect of gender was observed, F (1, 1197) = 17.86, p < .01; partial Eta-squared = .02, with mood seasonality being higher for females (M = 8) than for males (M = 7). Contradicting previous findings, no significant main effect for month of birth was observed, F (1, 1197) = 0.65, p > .05. CONCLUSION: The unexpected finding is tentatively explained by differences in geographic location and weather fluctuations between the sampling location in Brazil and other countries where season of birth has been found to influence mood seasonality. Additional studies with larger samples from the Southern Hemisphere are necessary to shed additional light on the possible significant influence of season of birth on mood.

Unraveling the Mystery of Brazilian Jeitinho

Two studies explore the structure and psychological makeup of jeitinho, a Brazilian indigenous construct associated with problem-solving strategies in strong hierarchies. Study 1 used a scenario approach with nonstudent participants and demonstrated that jeitinho can be described by a three-dimensional structure: corruption, creativity, and social norm breaking. Study 2 used individual and social norm scenarios in nonstudent samples and demonstrated that moral leniency is associated with more corruption and social norm breaking. Furthermore, only in the personal but not the social norm condition was greater social dominance orientation associated with more corruption and social norm breaking. Jeitinho is not a monolitical construct, but it is a complex sociocultural strategy that has distinct functional components at the personal and normative levels. Theoretical advances in the understanding of social norms and indigenous psychology by examining both culture-specific and general social-psychological processes are outlined.

Social and physical contexts of schools and neighborhoods: associations with physical activity among young people in New Zealand

OBJECTIVES

We sought to determine the association between school- and neighborhood-level characteristics and physical activity among young people.

METHODS

We collected the data as part of Youth'07, a nationally representative survey of the health and well-being of high school students in New Zealand. In total, 9107 students from 96 schools participated (63% response rate). Students answered questions about their schools (e.g., support for physical activity) and neighborhoods (e.g., community cohesion, disintegration, safety, and recreational facilities). We created school-level measures by aggregating the students' reports within their schools and we created neighborhood-level measures by aggregating the students' reports of their neighborhoods to the census area unit of their residential address. We conducted analyses by using cross-classified random-effects models controlling for individual variables, with school and neighborhoods treated as random effects.

RESULTS

Schools characterized by high sports team participation and neighborhoods characterized by high social connections were positively associated with student physical activity. We observed few other significant characteristics of school and neighborhood environments.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings highlight that opportunity for sports participation and strong social connections in neighborhoods are particularly important for youths' physical activity.

Health and well-being of young people who attend secondary school in Aotearoa, New Zealand: what has changed from 2001 to 2007?

AIM

To describe the changes in the health and well-being of secondary school students from 2001 to 2007.

METHODS

A total of 9107 secondary school students were randomly selected to participate in a comprehensive health and well-being survey using Internet tablets conducted in 2007. Comparisons are made with the first health and well-being survey conducted in 2001.

RESULTS

Students from 2007 reported good relationships with their families, people in their schools and neighbourhoods. Compared with the 2001 survey, students surveyed in 2007 were more likely to report positive mental health, better nutritional habits and higher levels of physical activity, and were less likely to report using tobacco and marijuana than students in 2001. In addition, the proportion of students who reported significant depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviours had decreased since 2001. However, concerning proportions of students in 2007 reported: binge drinking, experience of physical and sexual abuse, and witnessing violence in their homes.

CONCLUSION

While students' health and well-being have significantly improved from 2001 to 2007, there remain significant areas of concern.

Do schools influence student risk-taking behaviors and emotional health symptoms?

PURPOSE

Many schools engage in health promotion, health interventions, and services aimed at improving the health and well-being outcomes for students. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of schools on student health risk-taking behaviors and depressive symptoms.

METHOD

A nationally representative sample (n = 9,056) of students from 96 secondary schools completed a health and well-being survey using Internet Tablets that included questions on school climate, health risk-taking behaviors, and mental health. Teachers (n = 2,901) and school administrators (n = 91) completed questionnaires on aspects of the school climate which included teacher well-being and burnout, the staff work environment, health and welfare services for students, and school organizational support for student health and well-being. Multilevel models were used to estimate school effects on the health risk-taking behaviors and depression symptoms among students.

RESULTS

Schools where students reported a more positive school climate had fewer students with alcohol use problems, and fewer students engaging in violence and risky motor vehicle behaviors. Schools where teachers reported better health and welfare services for students had fewer students engaging in unsafe sexual health behaviors. Schools where teachers reported higher levels of well-being had fewer students reporting significant levels of depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

More positive school climates and better school health and welfare services are associated with fewer health risk-taking behaviors among students. However, the overall school effects were modest, especially for cigarette use and suicidal behaviors.

Does Social Context Affect Value Structures? Testing the Within-Country Stability of Value Structures With a Functional Theory of Values

Previous research showed that the stability of value structures across cultures is influenced by both sample fluctuations and social context. This study tests the within-country stability of value structures in a large sample of physicians ( N = 13,414) across all states in Brazil. The authors use a new value instrument that differentiates values according to their theoretical functions (type of orientation: personal versus social; type of motivation: materialistic versus humanitarian). Although the proposed structure of the value functions was relatively robust, systematic fluctuations in structure emerged. In line with previous research, the authors found strong effects of sampling fluctuations as well as socioeconomic development indices on the stability overall. Examining the differential effect of various social indicators, social living conditions were found to mediate the effect of socioeconomic indicators on value stability along the first dimension contrasting personal versus social value orientations. The second dimension differentiating materialistic versus humanitarian values is less stable. Implications for value theory and research, in particular for cross- and intra-cultural research, are discussed.

Testing measurement invariance across groups: applications in cross-cultural research

Researchers often compare groups of individuals on psychological variables. When comparing groups an assumption is made that the instrument measures the same psychological construct in all groups. If this assumption holds, the comparisons are valid and differences/similarities between groups can be meaningfully interpreted. If this assumption does not hold, comparisons and interpretations are not fully meaningful. The establishment of measurement invariance is a prerequisite for meaningful comparisons across groups. This paper first reviews the importance of equivalence in psychological research, and then the main theoretical and methodological issues regarding measurement invariance within the framework of confirmatory factor analysis. A step-by-step empirical example of measurement invariance testing is provided along with syntax examples for fitting such models in LISREL.

Milfont T. Standardization in psychological research

The term standardization has been used in a number of different ways in psychological research, mainly in relation to standardization of procedure, standardization of interpretation and standardization of scores. The current paper will discuss the standardization of scores in more detail. Standardization of scores is a common praxis in settings where researchers are concerned with different response styles, issues of faking or social desirability. In these contexts, scores are transformed to increase validity prior to data analysis. In this paper, we will outline a broad taxonomy of standardization methods, will discuss when and how scores can be standardized, and what statistical tests are available after the transformation. Simple step-by-step procedures and examples of syntax files for SPSS are provided. Applications for personality, organizational and cross-cultural psychology will be discussed. Limitations of these techniques are discussed, especially in terms of theoretical interpretation of the transformed scores and use of such scores with multivariate statistics.

Testing the Moderating Role of the Components of Norm Activation on the Relationship Between Values and Environmental Behavior

This study replicates and expands Schultz et al.’s findings regarding the applicability of the norm-activation model on self-reported environmental behavior. As expected, a significant three-way interaction was found among perceived seriousness of global environmental problems, ascription of responsibility for global environmental problems, and altruistic values when predicting environmental behaviors. This held even considering smaller measures, an online procedure to gather data, a diverse sample from more than 50 countries, and controlling for content overlap between measures.

Evaluating the short form of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale in New Zealand adolescents

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to examine the reliability and validity of the short form of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS-SF).

METHOD

A sample of 9567 randomly selected New Zealand secondary school students participated in the Youth2000 Health and Wellbeing Survey that included the full-length version of the RADS. The reliability and validity of the subset of items that make up the RADS-SF and its comparability to the original version were assessed using Cronbach's alpha, kappa statistics, correlations between the two versions of the instrument, confirmatory factor analysis and correlation to other questions in the survey considered likely to be associated with depression.

RESULTS

The RADS-SF had Cronbach's alpha of 0.88, was strongly correlated (0.95) to the RADS, had acceptable fit for the data (chi2=2823.27, df=35, comparative fit index=0.96, root mean square error of approximation=0.092, 90% confidence interval=0.089-0.095, standardized root mean square residual=0.042), showed configural invariance across gender, age and ethnic groups, and was strongly correlated with other depression-related questions, such as suicidal ideation (r=0.48). While the overall agreement for classification of depression by the two scores was good (kappa=0.75), a higher percentage of students were classified as having depressive symptoms using the recommended RADS-SF cut-off point of 26 compared with the RADS criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

The RADS-SF was found to have acceptable reliability and validity and to have psychometric properties comparable to the RADS in a large population of New Zealand adolescents.

Hand-held internet tablets for school-based data collection

BACKGROUND

In the last 20 years, researchers have been using computer self-administered questionnaires to gather data on a wide range of adolescent health related behaviours. More recently, researchers collecting data in schools have started to use smaller hand-held computers for their ease of use and portability. The aim of this study is to describe a new technology with wi-fi enabled hand-held internet tablets and to compare adolescent preferences of laptop computers or hand-held internet tablets in administering a youth health and well-being questionnaire in a school setting.

METHODS

A total of 177 students took part in a pilot study of a national youth health and wellbeing survey. Students were randomly assigned to internet tablets or laptops at the start of the survey and were changed to the alternate mode of administration about half-way through the questionnaire. Students at the end of the questionnaire were asked which of the two modes of administration (1) they preferred, (2) was easier to use, (3) was more private and confidential, and (4) was easier to answer truthfully.

RESULTS

Many students expressed no preference between laptop computers or internet tablets. However, among the students who expressed a preference between laptop computers or internet tablets, the majority of students found the internet tablets more private and confidential (p < 0.001) and easier to answer questions truthfully (p < 0.001) compared to laptop computers.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that using wi-fi enabled hand-held internet tablets is a feasible methodology for school-based surveys especially when asking about sensitive information.