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The goal of this study was to evaluate the measurement invariance of an adapted assessment of motivations for social withdrawal ("Social Preference Scale--Revised"; SPS-R) across cultural contexts and explore associations with loneliness. Participants were a large sample of university students (N = 4,397; M[subscript age] = 20.08 years, SD = 2.96; 66% females) from 10 countries (Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, and the United States). With this cross-cultural focus, we illustrate the "multiple-group factor analysis alignment method," an approach developed to assess measurement invariance when there are several groups. Results indicated approximate measurement invariance across the 10 country groups. Additional analyses indicated that overall, shyness, avoidance, and unsociability are three related, but distinct factors, with some notable country differences evident (e.g., in China, India, and Turkey). Shyness and avoidance were related positively to loneliness in all countries, but the strength of the association between shyness and loneliness differed in Italy and India relative to the other countries. Results also indicated that unsociability was related positively to loneliness in the United States only. Theoretical and assessment implications are discussed.

Background: Depression frequently first emerges during adolescence, and one in five young people will experience an episode of depression by the age of 18 years. Despite advances in treatment, there has been limited progress in addressing the burden at a population level. Accordingly, there has been growing interest in prevention approaches as an additional pathway to address depression. Depression can be prevented using evidence-based psychological programmes. However, barriers to implementing and accessing these programmes remain, typically reflecting a requirement for delivery by clinical experts and high associated delivery costs. Digital technologies, specifically smartphones, are now considered a key strategy to overcome the barriers inhibiting access to mental health programmes. The Future Proofing Study is a large-scale school-based trial investigating whether cognitive behaviour therapies (CBT) delivered by smartphone application can prevent depression.Methods: A randomised controlled trial targeting up to 10,000 Year 8 Australian secondary school students will be conducted. In Stage I, schools will be randomised at the cluster level either to receive the CBT intervention app (SPARX) or to a non-active control group comparator. The primary outcome will be symptoms of depression, and secondary outcomes include psychological distress, anxiety and insomnia. At the 12-month follow-up, participants in the intervention arm with elevated depressive symptoms will participate in an individual-level randomised controlled trial (Stage II) and be randomised to receive a second CBT app which targets sleep difficulties (Sleep Ninja) or a control condition. Assessments will occur post intervention (both trial stages) and at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months post baseline. Primary analyses will use an intention-to-treat approach and compare changes in symptoms from baseline to follow-up relative to the control group using mixed-effect models.Discussion: This is the first trial testing the effectiveness of smartphone apps delivered to school students to prevent depression at scale. Results from this trial will provide much-needed insight into the feasibility of this approach. They stand to inform policy and commission decisions concerning if and how such programmes should be deployed in school-based settings in Australia and beyond.Trial Registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry, ACTRN12619000855123. Registered on 31 May 2019. Clinical Trial Notification Scheme (CTN), CT-2019-CTN-02110-1-v1. Registered on 30 June 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A body of research has demonstrated that individuals with Asian ethnicity endorse higher levels of fear of negative evaluation compared with individuals with European ethnicity. To date, no study has examined whether this Asian-European difference may be confounded by the differential interpretation of the measures of fear of negative evaluation by the two groups. The current study thus aimed to examine the measurement equivalence of the 12-item Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE) scale and its 8-item variant composed of straightforwardly worded items (BFNE-S) in a sample of individuals who identified with a Chinese ethnicity (n = 204) and a sample of individuals who identified with an Anglo ethnicity (n = 528). Measurement equivalence across the samples was obtained for a two-factor BFNE model and a one-factor BFNE-S model. However, the BFNE-S model demonstrated superior fit to the data. Using the BFNE-S, we found that the Chinese ethnicity sample scored significantly higher on the latent dimension of fear of negative evaluation compared with the Anglo ethnicity sample (d = 0.24). These findings disambiguate previous research on Asian-European differences in fear of negative evaluation and highlight the need for the continued examination of the validity of measures across different ethnicities and cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Limited research has been conducted to quantify the level of disability and health related quality of life (HRQoL) associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviour. The aims of the current study were to (1) describe levels of disability and HRQoL in an Australian sample of adults with suicidal ideation, (2) examine the effect of zero, one, or more than one previous suicide attempt on disability and HRQoL, and (3) describe the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with disability and HRQoL., Method: Data for the current study is drawn from the baseline assessment of the Healthy Thinking trial that evaluated the effectiveness of an online self-help program for suicidal thoughts in an Australian adult community sample (n = 418). Measures of disability, quality of life, clinical symptoms, suicidality and demographic variables were included., Results: The mean disability score for the overall sample was 19.2 (SD = =8.9), while the mean perceived physical health score was 40.7 (SD = =6.5) and the mean perceived mental health score was 36.1 (SD = =5.9). Higher levels of disability and lower levels of perceived physical health were associated with multiple suicide attempts compared to one or no history of suicide attempt., Limitations: Limitations included the limited generalisability of results, the use of self-report to assess suicide attempts, and the use of cross-sectional data., Conclusion: Suicidal thoughts and behaviours are associated with high levels disability and low levels of perceived physical and mental health. Early intervention programs are needed to reduce the high levels of burden associated with suicidality., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest BvS and HC are authors of the web-based self-help program mentioned in this manuscript. All other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Cultural factors influence both the expression of social anxiety and the interpretation and functioning of social anxiety measures. This study aimed to test the measurement equivalence of two commonly used social anxiety measures across two sociocultural contexts using individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) from Australia and Japan., Methods: Scores on the straightforwardly-worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (S-SIAS) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) from two archival datasets of individual with SAD, one from Australia (n = 201) and one from Japan (n = 295), were analysed for measurement equivalence using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) framework., Results: The best-fitting factor models for the S-SIAS and SPS were not found to be measurement equivalent across the Australian and Japanese samples. Instead, only a subset of items was invariant. When this subset of invariant items was used to compare social anxiety symptoms across the Australian and Japanese samples, Japanese participants reported lower levels of fear of attracting attention, and similar levels of fear of overt evaluation, and social interaction anxiety, relative to Australian participants., Limitations: We only analysed the measurement equivalence of two social anxiety measures using a specific operationalisation of culture. Future studies will need to examine the measurement equivalence of other measures of social anxiety across other operationalisations of culture., Conclusions: When comparing social anxiety symptoms across Australian and Japanese cultures, only scores from measurement equivalent items of social anxiety measures should be used. Our study highlights the importance of culturally-informed assessment in SAD., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)