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Self-report delinquency scales have contributed greatly to the contemporary basis of our understanding of juvenile delinquency. Nevertheless, they have not been immune to criticism and further improvement and extensive measurement research is still necessary. The present study examined the psychometric properties of one such measure of self-reported delinquency, the Adapted Self-Report Delinquency Scale (ASRDS). The ASRDS was administered to a Portuguese sample of male youths ( N = 470, 12-20 years of age), subdivided into a forensic sample ( n = 217) and a school sample ( n = 253). The Portuguese version of the ASRDS demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, in terms of its factor structure, internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, criterion-related validity, and known-groups validity, thereby justifying its use among this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-Report Delinquency scales have formed the basis of much understanding of juvenile delinquency today, but further improvement and extensive measurement research on self-report measures of crime are needed. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the shorter general delinquency scale version of the classic commonly used Self-Report of Delinquency (SRD) measure created for the original National Youth Survey (NYS) using a sample (N = 412) of male (n = 200) and female (n = 212) at-risk Portuguese youths. The shorter version of the SRD demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability, namely in terms of its latent one-factor structure, internal consistency, convergent validity, divergent validity, concurrent criterion validity and discriminant groups validity that overall justifies its use among this population. The shorter general delinquency scale version of the SRD is a valid and reliable measure from a modern psychometric perspective that can be used with at-risk youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychometric properties of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were examined by using the Partial Credit Model. The study sample included 897 participants who were distributed into two main subgroups: (I) the clinical group (90 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, 90 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 33 patients with Frontotemporal Dementia, and 34 patients with Vascular dementia, whose diagnoses were previously established according to a consensus that was reached by a multidisciplinary team, based on the international criteria) and (II) the healthy group (composed of 650 cognitively healthy community dwellers). The results show(i) an overall good fit for both the items and the persons' values, (ii) high variability for the cognitive performance level of the cognitive domains (ranging between 1.90 and23.35, where "Short-term Memory" was the most difficult item and "Spatial Orientation" wasthe easiest item) and between the subjects on the scale, (iii) high reliability for the estimation of the persons' values, (iv) good discriminant validity and high diagnostic utility, and (v) a minimal differential item functioning effect related to of pathology, gender, age, and educational level. MoCAand its cognitive domains are suitable measures to use for screening the cognitive status of cognitively healthy subjects and patients with cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]