Development of a short form of the Greek Big Five Questionnaire for Children (GBFQ-C-SF): Validation among preadolescents

Artificial Neural Networks for Short-Form Development of Psychometric Tests: A Study on Synthetic Populations Using Autoencoders

Short-form development is an important topic in psychometric research, which requires researchers to face methodological choices at different steps. The statistical techniques traditionally used for shortening tests, which belong to the so-called exploratory model, make assumptions not always verified in psychological data. This article proposes a machine learning-based autonomous procedure for short-form development that combines explanatory and predictive techniques in an integrative approach. The study investigates the item-selection performance of two autoencoders: a particular type of artificial neural network that is comparable to principal component analysis. The procedure is tested on artificial data simulated from a factor-based population and is compared with existent computational approaches to develop short forms. Autoencoders require mild assumptions on data characteristics and provide a method to predict long-form items' responses from the short form. Indeed, results show that they can help the researcher to develop a short form by automatically selecting a subset of items that better reconstruct the original item's responses and that preserve the internal structure of the long-form.

Investigating the Multidimensionality and Psychometric Properties of the Children's Anger Rumination Scale (CARS): A Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling Framework

Anger Rumination (AR) represents a maladaptive cognitive process that contributes negatively to psychosocial functioning. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties (e.g., factorial structure, measurement invariance, and reliability) of the Children's Anger Rumination Scale (CARS). Factorial structure was tested by contrasting alternative model representations of the instrument (one- and four-factor independent cluster models-confirmatory factor analysis [ICM-CFA], exploratory structural equation modelling [ESEM], bifactor-CFA and bifactor-ESEM) in a convenience sample of 552 Greek students (M_age = 11.50 years; 53.6% girls). The hypothesized bifactor-ESEM solution, composed by a general anger rumination factor and four specific factors (Angry Afterthoughts, Thoughts of Revenge, Angry Memories, and Understanding of Causes) provided the best fit to the data and revealed the unitary dimensionality of the CARS. Measurement invariance across gender and age in level of the latent means indicated no significant differences in relation to AR tendency. The CARS showed internal consistency, one-month test-retest reliability as well as desirable patterns of convergent and discriminant validity. The predictive power of the instrument was also supported as participants' AR propensity was found to explain both depressive symptoms and bullying behaviors. Overall, our findings indicate that the CARS is a developmentally appropriate and psychometrically sound instrument that conceptualizes AR as an unidimensional construct among children and preadolescents.

Big Five Traits Based Profiles and Humor Styles in Preadolescents

Abstract. The present study investigated the relationship between Big Five traits-based profiles and humor styles in a sample of 426 Greek preadolescents. Latent Profile Analysis yielded three distinct personality profiles: resilients, average, and undercontrollers. These profiles exhibited significant group differences in humor styles. The resilient profile displayed the highest scores on the two benign humor styles and the lowest on the two malign styles. On the contrary, the under controllers scored lowest on the two benign humor styles and highest on self-defeating humor. Findings showed that the patterns identified in the extant literature between humor, personality, and adjustment generalize to preadolescents. These are discussed with reference to prior work and relevant theoretical implications.

Development and evaluation of the psychometric properties of a brief parenting scale (PS-7) for the parents of adolescents

This study aimed to develop a seven-item brief parenting scale (PS-7) based on the original parenting scale (PS) and various other shortened versions and with a better factor structure for the parents of adolescents. The scale was tested with a sample of 3,777 parents (2,205 mothers and 1,572 fathers). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the dimensionality of the different versions of the PS. Only the PS-7 with a two-factor structure, i.e., laxness (three items) and overreactivity (four items), showed a good model fit based on a representative sample of parents of junior secondary school students. Overall, the results suggest that PS-7 is comparable to the original PS and possesses good psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency, factorial validity, construct validity, criterion validity and discriminant validity. The abbreviated parenting scale also provides a reliable and cost-effective method for assessing parental practices for treatment and assessing treatment outcomes.