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Short scales are time‐efficient for participants and cost‐effective in research. However, researchers often mistakenly expect short scales to have the same reliability as long ones without considering the effect of scale length. We argue that applying a universal benchmark for alpha is problematic as the impact of low‐quality items is greater on shorter scales. In this study, we proposed simple guidelines for item reduction using the "alpha‐if‐item‐deleted" procedure in scale construction. An item can be removed if alpha increases or decreases by less than.02, especially for short scales. Conversely, an item should be retained if alpha decreases by more than.04 upon its removal. For reliability benchmarks,.80 is relatively safe in most conditions, but higher benchmarks are recommended for longer scales and smaller sample sizes. Supplementary analyses, including item content, face validity, and content coverage, are critical to ensure scale quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractLinear mixed-effects models have been increasingly used to analyze dependent data in psychological research. Despite their many advantages over ANOVA, critical issues in their analyses remain. Due to increasing random effects and model complexity, estimation computation is demanding, and convergence becomes challenging. Applied users need help choosing appropriate methods to estimate random effects. The present Monte Carlo simulation study investigated the impacts when the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) and Bayesian estimation models were misspecified in the estimation. We also compared the performance of Akaike information criterion (AIC) and deviance information criterion (DIC) in model selection. Results showed that models neglecting the existing random effects had inflated Type I errors, unacceptable coverage, and inaccurate R-squared measures of fixed and random effects variation. Furthermore, models with redundant random effects had convergence problems, lower statistical power, and inaccurate R-squared measures for Bayesian estimation. The convergence problem is more severe for REML, while reduced power and inaccurate R-squared measures were more severe for Bayesian estimation. Notably, DIC was better than AIC in identifying the true models (especially for models including person random intercept only), improving convergence rates, and providing more accurate effect size estimates, despite AIC having higher power than DIC with 10 items and the most complicated true model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Doctors and nurses play a fundamental role in maintaining global health systems and achieving universal health care coverage. However, significant shortages persist, and little is known about the popularity of these careers among young people in various economies or the relative impact of personal inputs and contextual factors. Methods: Using data from the large-scale Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, we showed the recent distribution of adolescents' medical (doctor) and nursing career expectations in 61 economies. With multilevel logistic and hierarchical linear regression, we examined the relative importance of economic indicators, health work conditions, and personal background factors in affecting adolescents' health career expectations. Results: Approximately 11% of adolescents expected to be doctors in each economy, while only 2% expected to be nurses. Adolescents were attracted to health professions mainly by system-level favourable conditions (accounting for 1/3 variance), including (a) government health expenditure beyond that expected gross domestic product (GDP); (b) a safe working environment for doctors in wealthy nations; and (c) high salaries for nurses in less-developed economies. In contrast, adolescents' background (gender, social status, and academic ability) was less influential, explaining only 10% of the differences. Conclusions: In the technological and digital era, high-ability students are equally competitive for emerging careers other than doctors and nurses. In developing countries, a high salary package and societal respect are enough to attract adolescents to nursing careers. In contrast, for developed countries, extra expenditures beyond regular GDP allocation and a safe work environment are crucial in attracting adolescents to become doctors. Salary may effectively attract international-trained doctors and nurses, but the work environment will likely emerge as an essential factor in retaining migrants in their positions. Trial registration number: No human participants were involved in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the performance of coefficient alpha and its potential competitors (ordinal alpha, omega total, Revelle's omega total [omega RT], omega hierarchical [omega h], greatest lower bound [GLB], and coefficient H) with continuous and discrete data having different types of non-normality. Results showed the estimation bias was acceptable for continuous data with varying degrees of non-normality when the scales were strong (high loadings). This bias, however, became quite large with moderate strength scales and increased with increasing non-normality. For Likert-type scales, other than omega h, most indices were acceptable with non-normal data having at least four points, and more points were better. For different exponential distributed data, omega RT and GLB were robust, whereas the bias of other indices for binomial-beta distribution was generally large. An examination of an authentic large-scale international survey suggested that its items were at worst moderately non-normal; hence, non-normality was not a big concern. We recommend (a) the demand for continuous and normally distributed data for alpha may not be necessary for less severely non-normal data; (b) for severely non-normal data, we should have at least four scale points, and more points are better; and (c) there is no single golden standard for all data types, other issues such as scale loading, model structure, or scale length are also important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared coefficient alpha with five alternatives (omega total, omega RT, omega h, GLB, and coefficient H) in two simulation studies. Results showed for unidimensional scales, (a) all indices except omega h performed similarly well for most conditions; (b) alpha is still good; (c) GLB and coefficient H overestimated reliability with small samples and short scales, and (d) sensitivity to scale quality reduced with longer scales. For contaminated scales, (a) all indices except omega h were reasonably unbiased with non-severe contamination; (b) alpha, omega total, and GLB were more sensitive in picking up contamination with shorter scales, whereas omega RT and omega h were not; and (c) coefficient H could not pick up contaminated items among high-quality items. For applied researchers, (a) supplementary information of scale characteristics helps choose the appropriate index; (b) comparing different scales with one golden standard is inappropriate; (c) omega h should not be used alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting participants not exerting sufficient effort (e.g., answering randomly; termed 'insufficient effort responding' or IER) in self-report surveys is crucial but intricate. Challenges of appropriately removing IER resemble a surgeon excising necrotic tissue without being inadequate, excessive, or incorrect. Current cutoff criteria for stopping the elimination of suspected IER responses are often arbitrary. This study proposes an external criterion strategy to identify the optimal cutoff values for various IER detection methods. We investigated the change in correlations between the IER-containing scale (e.g., motivation) and the external criterion (e.g., academic performance, socioeconomic status index, or another questionnaire scale) utilizing simulated and authentic international survey data. The findings revealed that the stopping rule and consequently, the optimal cutoff values for IER detection methods, can be accurately identified by locating the inflection point in the correlation plot with the external criterion. Practical strategies are recommended for applied researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Gender discrepancies in teaching career expectations have been narrowed in more advanced economies. • The impact of socioeconomic status was reduced while efforts were needed to achieve inclusiveness. • Boys required greater enjoyment, self-efficacy, and environmental support to be attracted to teaching careers. • Girls were inclined to be teachers naturally. Given the significance of teacher quality and the pressing need to address teacher shortages worldwide, understanding the dynamics of adolescents' career decision-making among adolescents is crucial. This study aimed to shed light on the evolving landscape of adolescents' teaching career expectations and its influencing factors using the Programme for International Student Assessment data spanning two decades. Results showed that (a) differences between boys' and girls' expectations for teaching careers had narrowed in many advanced economies, with an increasing number of boys aspiring to become teachers. (b) The disparities between high and low socioeconomic status students' expectations for teaching had also been reduced, while efforts were still needed to recruit prospective teachers from diverse backgrounds. (c) Boys required enjoyment of reading, self-efficacy, and family and teacher support to be attracted to teaching careers, but girls were naturally inclined to be teachers. Importantly, each economy exhibited its unique combinational pattern of pull and push factors. The findings emphasised the need to address the human resource shortages on multiple fronts, particularly reducing gender disparities, engaging boys in teaching careers, and promoting inclusivity in the teaching profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: For Chinese students, learning is seen as their duty and obligation to the society and their parents. Thus, in contrast to the Western students, the effects of extrinsic motivation on academic performance may not necessarily be always negative. The present study examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as their multiplicative effect among Chinese students.Method: A total of 13,799 students in China were followed longitudinally in three waves (Grade 10, beginning of school year, midyear, and end-of-year; 5-month interval each). The main and multiplicative effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were used to predict academic growth in a latent growth model.Results: The multiplicative effect between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations showed that extrinsic motivation was detrimental to academic performance for students with high intrinsic motivation. For students with low intrinsic motivation, however, the extrinsic motivation helped to improve academic performance. Worth noting, intrinsic motivation also had a moderate positive effect on academic performance.Conclusions: For Chinese learners, interest is not the only key motive to learn. Extrinsic reasons could facilitate students' learning when they are not interested in the subject. Extrinsic motivation harms only for highly intrinsically motivated students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In large-scale low-stake assessment such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), students may skip items (missingness) which are within their ability to complete. The detection and taking care of these noneffortful responses, as a measure of test-taking motivation, is an important issue in modern psychometric models. Traditional approaches based on questionnaires and item response theory may have different limitations. In the present research, we proposed a new way by directly using "participant-own-defined" missing item information (user missingness) in a zero-inflated Poisson model. An empirical study using the PISA 2015 data (eight representative economies in two cultures) and another simulation study were conducted to validate our new approach. Results indicated that our model could successfully capture test-taking motivation. We also found that the Confucian students had lower user missingness irrespective of item positions as compared with their Western counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research examines possible differences in the mutual reinforcement (i.e. multiplicative) effect between intrinsic and instrumental motivation on academic performance across different cultures. Eight representative countries and economies from two large‐scale databases—the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012—were used, respectively. Results showed that among the Confucian economies, instrumental motivation was more helpful in improving the mathematics performance of students with low intrinsic motivation than for those with high intrinsic motivation. This was shown by the multiplicative effect between intrinsic and instrumental motivation. Despite the difference, students in both Confucian and Western cultures with high intrinsic motivation had better mathematics performance than students with low intrinsic motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined the possible long-term effects of autonomous motivation on educational outcomes in the large scale High School Longitudinal Study 2009 (HSLS:09) data. We used a three-wave cross-lagged model to examine the longitudinal effects of intrinsic and identified motivation on 18,132 students in the mathematics domain and 16,684 students in the science domain. The results showed that intrinsic motivation was a long-term and effective enhancement agent on the subsequent academic performance, self-efficacy, identity, and course effort. In contrast, identified motivation might be sensitive to the contexts and was thus vulnerable to change in the long-term effects. Though identified motivation has positive effects on some immediate educational outcomes and is often regarded as "helpful" motivation, its positive effect is probably short-lived and might not last long in real life educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine relationships between the global construct of multidimensional data and external criteria, bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (B-ESEM) and traditional methods (e.g., unidimensional confirmatory factor analyses, CFA; parceled CFA; and bifactor models) can be used. We compared their performance in a Monte Carlo simulation study. (a) B-ESEM performed the best, followed by parceled CFA and bifactor models, and the unidimensional CFA was the worst. The relative biases of predicting the external criteria with the global construct increased with larger cross-loadings and greater model complexity and decreased with an increasing percentage of uncontaminated correlations (PUC). (b) With few large cross-loadings, relative biases of B-ESEM structural coefficients were negligible. In contrast, PUC determined our choice of unidimensional CFA, parceled CFA, or bifactor models. (c) With many large cross-loadings and high general factor loadings, B-ESEM was preferred. (d) No model was acceptable with many large cross-loadings and low general factor loadings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored motivation and engagement among Chinese and Australian school students. Based on a sample of 528 Hong Kong Chinese 12-13 year olds and an archive sample of 6,366 Australian 12-13 year olds, achievement motivation was assessed using the Motivation and Engagement Scale-High School (MES-HS). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling using LISREL found that, across Chinese and Australian students, there was similar factor structure, reliability, correlations with educational outcomes, and gender and age effects—suggesting there are no fundamental differences of kind between the two cultures. There were, however, differences of degree in that Australian students reported significantly higher levels of adaptive achievement motivation and significantly lower levels of maladaptive achievement motivation. It is concluded that although Australian students have higher levels of reported achievement motivation than Chinese students on a number of dimensions, the two groups' fundamental orientation does not appear to be markedly different in terms of motivation structure, profile, and relationships. This holds implications for cross-cultural motivation assessment, data analysis, and programmatic intervention aimed at enhancing (and sustaining) students' achievement motivation in different cultural and national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents his view on the research on Asian students' achievement motivation. He states that the study of achievement motivation in different cultural groups has been of great interest to researchers. He points out that the importance of such research is that discoveries of similarities and differences in the application of existing theories in different cultures provide the chance to revise, accommodate and expand those theories so that they could become better and more comprehensive.

Previous studies have suggested that Western constructs of academic motivation may operate in different ways in Asian contexts due to differences in the cultural environment. In the present study, the integrative effects of achievement goals, strategy orientations, and effort expenditure on achievement outcomes were examined among 1950 seventh-grade Chinese students in Hong Kong. Participants completed separate questionnaires for mathematics and English. Results for the two subjects were largely similar. There were significant positive relationships between mastery and performance goals, between cooperative and competitive orientations, as well as between understanding and memorizing strategies. Regression analyses further revealed that goals and strategies were highly predictive of effort expenditure, but only goals and effort significantly predicted achievement outcome, with strategies being barely significant. The need to further investigate how Chinese students reconcile the apparently antithetical orientations in learning as well as the effective strategies contributing to their learning is indicated. Les etudes anterieures ont suggere que les construits occidentaux de la motivation academique peuvent fonctionner de differentes facons dans les contextes asiatiques a cause de differences dans l'environnement culturel. Dans la presente etude, les effets integratifs des buts d'accomplissement, des orientations strategiques et de l'effort fourni sur les resultats d'accomplissement ont ete examines chez 1950 etudiants chinois de niveau 7 a Hong Kong. Les participants ont complete des questionnaires separes pour les mathematiques et l'anglais. Les resultats pour ces deux matieres etaient largement similaires. Il y avait des relations positives significatives entre les buts de maitrise et de performance, entre les orientations de cooperation et de competition, tout comme entre les strategies de comprehension et de memorisation. De plus, des analyses de regression ont revele que les buts et les strategies etaient fortement predictifs de l'effort fourni, mais seulement les buts et l'effort predisait significativement le resultat d'accomplissement, avec les strategies etant tout juste significatives. Le besoin d'etudier davantage la facon dont les etudiants chinois concilient les orientations apparemment antithetiques dans l'apprentissage tout comme les strategies efficaces contribuant a leur apprentissage est souligne. Estudios previos han sugerido que los constructos occidentales respecto de la motivacion academica pueden operar de modo distinto en contextos asiaticos debido a las diferencias en el contexto cultural. En el presente estudio se examinaron en 1950 escolares chinos del 7 Grado en Hong Kong los efectos integradores de las metas de logro, las estrategias de orientacion y el esfuerzo invertido en relacion al resultado final. Los participantes completaron de manera separada cuestionarios de matematica y de ingles. Los resultados de estas dos pruebas fueron muy parecidos. Se observo una relacion positiva y significativa entre dominio y rendimiento; entre orientaciones cooperativas y competitivas, asi como entre estrategias de comprension y de memorizacion. Analisis de regresion revelaron adicionalmente que las metas y las estrategias fueron altamente predictivas del esfuerzo invertido, pero solamente las metas y el esfuerzo predijeron de manera significativa las respuestas de logro, mientras que las estrategias eran apenas significativas. En este estudio se enfatiza la necesidad de investigaciones adicionales respecto del modo como estudiantes chinos reconcilian orientaciones aparentemente contrarias en el aprendizaje, asi como de las estrategias efectivas que contribuyen a su aprendizaje. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study of an undergraduate Educational Psychology course that incorporated both constructivist and teacher-centred teaching was conducted. The learning processes and higher-level learning outcomes were examined through participant observation, interviews with students and analyses of student assignments. The lessons were audio recorded and transcribed, and a total of 68 interviews, each about 1.5 hours long, were conducted. In general, the constructivist teaching facilitated students' creation of their own knowledge, as they were allowed to think more over the problems together and generate original ideas. Students' performances in recalling, critiquing and generating with the knowledge gained in the constructivist teaching context were also better than those in the teacher-centred context. This could be explained by the deeper processing of the material, the activation of students' prior knowledge and the similarity between the situations of knowledge construction and knowledge application. The strengths and limitations of constructivist teaching are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maximum likelihood estimation in confirmatory factor analysis requires large sample sizes, normally distributed item responses, and reliable indicators of each latent construct, but these ideals are rarely met. We examine alternative strategies for dealing with non-normal data, particularly when the sample size is small. In two simulation studies, we systematically varied: the degree of non-normality; the sample size from 50 to 1000; the way of indicator formation, comparing items versus parcels; the parcelling strategy, evaluating uniformly positively skews and kurtosis parcels versus those with counterbalancing skews and kurtosis; and the estimation procedure, contrasting maximum likelihood and asymptotically distribution-free methods. We evaluated the convergence behaviour of solutions, as well as the systematic bias and variability of parameter estimates, and goodness of fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examined and compared Australian and Chinese teachers’ personal efficacy in instruction, discipline, guidance and beliefs about external influences. Two staged studies were conducted with the participation of 316 Australian teachers (108, 208 in first and second stages, respectively) and 411 Hong Kong Chinese teachers (138, 273, respectively). Results of multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses indicated highly comparable factorial structures of teacher efficacy for the two groups, although personal guidance efficacy was more differentiated from personal instruction and discipline efficacy among Australian teachers. Evidence is provided for the need to incorporate cultural factors into future teacher efficacy research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Students'' subjective beliefs on whether intelligence and other personal attributes (personality, creativity, emotional intelligence, morality) can be changed will affect their learning and motivational behavior. In two related studies, we examined the generality of such beliefs across different personal attributes and age groups. The first study investigated whether students who believed intelligence was inborn also believed that personality and other personal attributes were inherited and were difficult to change. The comparison of the factorial structures using confirmatory factor analyses of Chinese senior high school students'' (N=574) responses to a self-constructed questionnaire suggested a high degree of generality among beliefs of various personal attributes. The second study examined the differences in these beliefs between elementary and high school students (total N=1650). A comparison of the latent factor means showed that elementary and high school students'' beliefs on the changeability of different personal attributes were very similar. Older students, in comparison to younger ones, had only a slight tendency of believing more that personality, intelligence and creativity could not be changed. The results are discussed in terms of cognitive maturity and socialization processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Regression toward the mean artifacts (RTMAs) are ubiquitous phenomena, seducing researchers, policy makers, and practitioners down the path of offering substantive interpretations of statistical artifacts. The use of highly sophisticated statistical tools can mislead otherwise knowledgeable researchers into thinking that this well-known problem is no longer relevant. Here we evaluated multilevel models of growth and change in relation to RMTAs, using simulated data to represent students nested within schools for which there were initial school differences due to selection based on T1 (pretest) achievement scores, but no school differences in achievement growth over four years. In the unconditional multilevel growth modeling approach (i.e., a multilevel repeated measures analysis), there were substantial RTMAs; apparent growth over time was more positive for schools with initially lower T1 school-average achievement and the sizes of these RTMAs varied inversely with the simulated reliability and stability of the measures. In the conditional multilevel covariance approach (i.e., multilevel path models with adjustment for pretest covariates) there were no RTMAs, but some advantages of the growth modeling approach were lost. In a hybrid approach (growth models of residualized change scores) in which T1 achievement was considered as a covariate and growth model components were constructed from T2, T3, and T4 achievement, RTMAs associated with initial achievement differences were eliminated. Because assignment to schools in this example was completely determined by a known T1 (pretest) achievement score, both the conditional and hybrid approaches eliminated RTMAs, but none of the approaches would be generally effective if selection was based on unmeasured variables. The results demonstrate that multilevel growth models provide no protection from RTMAs that can easily be misinterpreted as substantively meaningful results rather than statistical artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multistage adaptive testing (MST) has been recently adopted for international large‐scale assessments such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). MST offers improved measurement efficiency over traditional nonadaptive tests and improved practical convenience over single‐item‐adaptive computerized adaptive testing (CAT). As a third alternative adaptive test design to MST and CAT, Zheng and Chang proposed the “on‐the‐fly multistage adaptive testing” (OMST), which combines the benefits of MST and CAT and offsets their limitations. In this study, we adopted the OMST design while also incorporating response time (RT) in item selection. Via simulations emulating the PISA 2018 reading test, including using the real item attributes and replicating PISA 2018 reading test's MST design, we compared the performance of our OMST designs against the simulated MST design in (1) measurement accuracy of test takers’ ability, (2) test time efficiency and consistency, and (3) expected gains in precision by design. We also investigated the performance of OMST in item bank usage and constraints management. Results show great potential for the proposed RT‐incorporated OMST designs to be used for PISA and potentially other international large‐scale assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responds to comments raised by some writers on the authors' study on the value of parsimony in structural equation modeling. Main points of the authors' article on parsimony; Responses to Stephen Sivo and Victor Wilson; Definitions and standards of parsimony ad absurdum.

Examines the use of model parsimony in the assessment of goodness-of-fit of structural equation models. Heuristic counterexample on the use of parsimony; Addition of mechanistic decision rules; Evaluation of the behavior of a variety of fit indices and decision rules.

Examines the Chinese translation of the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ), exploring the generality of selected findings based on North American research of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Students' evaluation of teaching (SETs) effectiveness; Information on factors which support the SEEQ; Factors which produce variance in SETs; Details on the study and its findings.

Presents a critique of the methodological aspects of the B.S. Randhawa, J.E. Beamer and I. Lundberg's 1993 study of structural equation modeling (SEM) of relations between self-efficacy, attitudes and achievement in mathematics. Effects of attitudes on achievement; Relation of self-efficacy to achievement for boys and girls; Reanalysis of the data of the study.

Compares the various methods of achievement attribution measurements with regard to the construction of the achievement event and the measurement of the attributions elicited. Study of achievement motivation; Scope of review; Dispositional and situational attribution instruments; Approaches; Domain specificity; Instigation of attribution; Attribution questions.

Abstract: In “Unforgiving Confucian culture: A breeding ground for high academic achievement, test anxiety and self-doubt?” Stankov (in press) provides three reasons for caution against over-glorifying the academic excellence of Confucian Asian learners, namely that it may lead to a reluctance to change their rote learning approach which is not conducive to the development of 21st Century skills, that it is achieved at the cost of students'' psychological well-being, and that such achievements and the associated poor psychological well-being are spurred by an unforgiving mindset. The present commentary addresses these concerns, highlighting the need to be cautious about comparing and interpreting findings from cross-cultural studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In its simplest form, the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) predicts that equally able students have lower academic self- concepts when attending schools where the average ability levels of other students is high than when attending schools where the school-average ability is low. Whereas comments by several researchers raised a variety of interesting issues, some of which authors have discussed in this article, there seems to be no disagreement that authors' results support predictions based on the BFLPE and its cross-cultural generalizability across responses from nationally representative samples of approximately 4,000 15-year-olds from 26 countries included in the Program for International Student Assessment Organisation for Economic Co-operative Development study.

In exploratory factor analysis (EFA), cross-loadings frequently occur in empirical research, but its effects on determining the number of factors to retain are seldom known. In this paper, we analyzed whether and how cross-loadings affected the performance of the parallel analysis (PA), the empirical Kaiser criterion (EKC), the likelihood ratio test (LRT), the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) in determining the number of factors to retain. A large-scale simulation study was also conducted. A few conclusions can be drawn: (1) overall, PA provides the most accurate performance, especially when data are non-normally distributed; (2) cross-loadings noticeably affect the performance of PA, CFI, and TLI with different patterns, and they virtually have no effect on EKC, LRT, and RMSEA; (3) no method is immune to the sizable detrimental effect of normality assumption violation. Several recommendations were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the mediating roles of self-efficacy and anxiety on the effects of teacher–student relationship on mathematical problem-solving ability. A total of 1667 fifth graders from central China participated in the large-scale survey. The findings indicated that (1) teacher–student relationship had a direct and positive effect on students' mathematical problem-solving ability; (2) the positive link between teacher–student relationship and mathematical problem-solving ability was partially mediated through self-efficacy; (3) the teacher–student relationship affected students' mathematical problem-solving ability through self-efficacy and maths anxiety, but the effect of self-efficacy on mathematical anxiety was smaller. Implications for the importance of teacher–student relationships in education as well as suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minor cross-loadings on non-targeted factors are often found in psychological or other instruments. Forcing them to zero in confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) leads to biased estimates and distorted structures. Alternatively, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and Bayesian structural equation modeling (BSEM) have been proposed. In this research, we compared the performance of the traditional independent-clusters-confirmatory-factor-analysis (ICM-CFA), the nonstandard CFA, ESEM with the Geomin- or Target-rotations, and BSEMs with different cross-loading priors (correct; small- or large-variance priors with zero mean) using simulated data with cross-loadings. Four factors were considered: the number of factors, the size of factor correlations, the cross-loading mean, and the loading variance. Results indicated that ICM-CFA performed the worst. ESEMs were generally superior to CFAs but inferior to BSEM with correct priors that provided the precise estimation. BSEM with large- or small-variance priors performed similarly while the prior mean for cross-loadings was more important than the prior variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared six common methods in estimating the 2-1-1 (level-2 independent, level-1 mediator, level-1 dependent) multilevel mediation model with a random slope. They were the Bayesian with informative priors, the Bayesian with non-informative priors, the Monte-Carlo, the distribution of the product, the bias-corrected, and the bias-uncorrected parametric percentile residual bootstrap. The Bayesian method with informative priors was superior in relative mean square error (RMSE), power, interval width, and interval imbalance. The prior variance and prior mean were also varied and examined. Decreasing the prior variance increased the power, reduced RMSE and interval width when the prior mean was the true value, but decreasing the prior variance reduced the power when the prior mean was set incorrectly. The influence of misspecification of prior information of the b coefficient on multilevel mediation analysis was greater than that on coefficient a. An illustrate example with the Bayesian multilevel mediation was provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To motivate students, intrinsic interest is generally preferred over the instrumental values (useful for future study/work) of the tasks. Such general principles could be complicated by the differential work-related values and attitudes across cultures. Understanding and applying the appropriate motivational systems in congruence with students' cultural beliefs is important. Using self-determination theory, we examined the possible differential importance (and other complicated interactions) of motivational factors in representative student samples from 19 countries and economies in two cohorts of large-scale international surveys (in total 188,481 students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS], 2015 and 2019). Results showed that emphasizing task instrumental values helped academic performance for students with a low intrinsic interest in collectivistic cultures. In contrast, stressing instrumental values did not help low-interest students in individualistic cultures. Notably, intrinsic motivation facilitates academic performance universally in all cultures. • Low-intrinsic collectivist students will benefit from instrumental motivation. • Only intrinsic motivation was positively influential for individualistic students. • A cultural interactive model is supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to elucidate the association between sleep and academic performance using standardized academic assessment in a large and representative sample of school children and adolescents in Hong Kong. This school-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016. Students completed territory-wide standardized tests in Chinese, English, and Mathematics and a set of questionnaires covering sleep, academic anxiety and motivation. Parents provided additional information on socioeconomic status and children's study behaviors. Weekday proxy sleep duration was reflected by time-in-bed, the difference between bedtime and wakeup time. The study included 4262 Grade 3 (G.3) (mean age [SD], 9.2 [0.6] years; girls: 49.7%) and 3297 G.9 students (mean age [SD], 15.3 [0.74]; girls: 57.5%) from 77 schools. Apart from showing a general insufficiency of students' sleep in this metropolitan city, there was a significant quadratic relationship (G.3: β = −0.05, p <.001; G.9: β = −0.03, p <.01), indicating that students with an optimal level of sleep (9.5 h and 8.5 h in G.3 and G.9, respectively) tend to have better academic performance. The significant association remained after controlling for socioeconomic and study-related variables in that sleeping too little or too much was associated with poor academic performance. This is the first study to explore the curvilinear association between sleep duration and academic performance by using standardized test and simultaneously examining learning-related controls with a large representative sample in Hong Kong. The findings suggested that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and academic performance in both school-aged children and adolescents. It is recommended that systematic sleep education and intervention is necessary to encourage the development of optimal sleep pattern, which might have beneficial effect on academic performance for students at both primary and secondary level. • There is a curvilinear relationship between sleep duration and academic performance in large representative samples. • The inverted U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and academic performance remained after controlling academic related confounding factors. • Systematic sleep education and intervention is necessary to encourage the development of optimal sleep pattern, which might have beneficial effect on academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the link between teacher-student relationship at the class level and academic achievement via the serial multiple mediation effect of self-efficacy and learning strategy in Chinese EFL context with 11,036 eighth graders. Student-reported measures of teacher-student relationship, English self-efficacy, learning strategy and curriculum-based measures of English achievement were collected in fall 2015. Multilevel mediation model revealed that the positive relationship between teacher-student relationship at the class level and English achievement was partially mediated by self-efficacy, cognitive and metacognitive strategy, and serially mediated by self-efficacy and then learning strategy in Chinese EFL context, controlling for SES and gender. The findings suggest that positive teacher-student relationship can help students to develop English proficiency by fostering their English self-efficacy and use of learning strategy. The results of the present study extend our understanding of influential factors in foreign language learning processes and hold substantive theoretical and practical implications for educational researchers as well as teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Body constitution is a fundamental concept in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for clinical diagnosis, treatment of illness, and community-based health promotion. Clinical assessment of patients' body constitutions, however, has never been easy and consistent, even by well-trained clinicians and TCM practitioners. Therefore, questionnaires such as the popular Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) can be an appealing and convenient assessment alternative. The present research borrowed advanced methodologies for questionnaire development in psychology and other social sciences to examine the performance of the CCMQ in terms of (i) the strength of relations of each item with its designated constitution, (ii) the reliabilities of each constitution, and (iii) the overall 9-constitution structure. This research provided empirical evidence to support the use of the CCMQ and proposed directions for refinement in future revisions of the CCMQ or similar measures. Methods: A total of 1571 volunteers from three villages in southern China participated in the CCMQ survey. The item characteristics, reliabilities, interconstitution correlations, and confirmatory factor analysis of the 9-body-constitution structure were examined. Results: The results generally supported the appropriateness of the clinical observations (the questionnaire items) and the CCMQ 9-constitution classification structure. Nevertheless, some relatively weaker items, item pairs with similar meanings, and highly overlapping constitutions were identified for future CCMQ revisions. Conclusion: The CCMQ measured the 9 constitutions efficiently and with reasonably good reliability and construct validity. Given the various challenges to assessing TCM body constitutions even by experienced clinicians, the CCMQ provides an appealing alternative to measure the Chinese body constitutions of healthy participants in large-scale research or community health promotion programs. The present study also demonstrated how advanced methodologies in social sciences can help validate and refine the CCMQ and similar complementary medicine measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research on teacher feedback on student learning, possible mediating role of reading self-concept and the moderating role of disciplinary climate at both student level.

The present study investigated multidimensional motivation and engagement among Chinese middle school students in Australia (N = 273), Hong Kong (N = 528), and Mainland China (N = 2106; randomly selectedN = 528). Findings showed that a multidimensional model of motivation and engagement fit very well for all three groups. Multi-group invariance tests showed that the number of factors, factor loadings, factor correlations and item uniquenesses were invariant across the three groups – as were inter-correlations with a set of cognate correlates (class participation, school enjoyment, positive intentions, academic buoyancy) – hence no differences of ‘kind’. However, differences of ‘degree’ were indicated through significant mean-level effects between groups, with self-reports favouring Australian Chinese students over Hong Kong and (to a lesser extent) Mainland Chinese students. We propose these findings shed important light on Chinese students’ academic motivation and engagement and also on socio-cultural perspectives on motivation and engagement because they assist understanding about effects attributable to context and effects attributable to ethnicity. Given this, the study is a timely contribution to current understanding of the Chinese learner in this, the ‘Asian Century’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this investigation is to compare and evaluate 2 approaches for estimating interaction effects in latent growth models (LGMs): the unconstrained approach and the latent moderated structural equations (LMS) approach. To reduce the complexity of modeling interactions in LGMs, we created difference-product indicators to replace the traditional product indicators used in the unconstrained approach because these differences in original indicators represent changes over time. Our focus was to verify the performance of this simplified interaction model of LGMs with difference-product indicators by using the unconstrained approach and comparing it with the LMS approach. Our simulation study showed that the LMS approach generally resulted in smaller biases in the estimated parameters and was consistently more precise than the unconstrained approach under normal conditions, particularly when the sample size was small. When normality assumptions were violated, however, the unconstrained approach was shown to be more robust than the LMS approach in terms of the bias of estimation. In summary, we generally recommend both the unconstrained approach and the LMS approach if the indicators are normally distributed and when the sample size is large enough (e.g., not less than 500). Under normal conditions, the LMS approach is preferred. If normality assumptions are violated, however, the unconstrained approach is recommended. Under the most stringent conditions when normality assumptions are severely violated and the sample size is small, the results from both the unconstrained approach and the LMS approach should be treated with caution, and alternative procedures might be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Typically, the effects of single-sex schooling are small at best, and tend to be statistically non-significant once pre-existing differences are taken into account. However, researchers often have had to rely on observational studies based on small non-representative samples and have not used more advanced propensity score methods to control the potentially confounding effects of covariates. Here, we apply optimal full matching to the large historical longitudinal dataset best suited to evaluating this issue in US high schools: the nationally representative High School and Beyond study. We compare the effects of single-sex education in the final 2 years of high school on Grade 12 and post-secondary outcomes using the subsample of students attending Catholic schools ( N = 2379 students, 29 girls' schools, 22 boys' schools, 33 coeducational schools) focusing on achievement-related, motivational and social outcomes. We contrast conventional Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with optimal full matching based on the propensity score that provides a principled way of controlling for selection bias. Results from the two approaches converged: When background and Year 10 covariates were controlled, uncorrected apparent differences between the school types disappeared and the pattern of effects was very similar across the two methods. Overall, there was little evidence for positive effects of single-sex schooling for a broad set of outcomes in the final 2 years of high school and 2 years after graduation. We conclude with a discussion of the advantages of propensity score methods compared to ANCOVA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), the negative effect of school-/class-average achievement on academic self-concept, is one of educational psychology's most universal findings. However, critiques of this research have proposed moderators based on achievement motivation theories. Nevertheless, because these motivational theories are not sufficiently well-developed to provide unambiguous predictions concerning moderation of the BFLPE and underlying social comparison processes, we developed a Theory-Integrating Approach; bringing together a panel of experts, independently making theoretical predictions, revising the predictions over several rounds based on independent feedback from the other experts, and a summary of results. We pit a priori hypotheses derived from achievement motivation theories against the more parsimonious a priori prediction that there is no moderation based on previous BFLPE empirical research and Darwinian-economic theory (N = 1,925 Hong Kong students, 47 classes, M age = 12 years). Consistent with both BFLPE research and Darwinian perspectives, but in contrast to achievement motivation theory predictions, the highly significant BFLPE was not moderated by any of the following: prior achievement, expectancy-value theory variables, achievement goals, implicit theories of ability, self-regulated learning strategies, and social interdependence theory measures. Although we cannot "prove" that there are no student-level moderators of the BFLPE, our synthesis of social comparison posited in the BFLPE theory and an evolutionary perspective support BFLPE's generalizability. We propose further integration of our Theory-Integrating Approach with traditional Delphi methods, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to develop a priori theoretical predictions and identify limitations in existing theory as an alternative form of systematic review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little, Bovaird and Widaman (2006) proposed an unconstrained approach with residual centering for estimating latent interaction effects as an alternative to the mean-centered approach proposed by Marsh, Wen, and Hau (2004, 2006). Little et al. also differed from Marsh et al. in the number of indicators used to infer the latent interaction factor and how they were represented, but this issue is separate from the mean versus residual centering distinction that was their primary focus. However, their implementation of the Marsh et al. mean-centered approach failed to incorporate the mean structure that Marsh et al. argued was necessary to obtain unbiased estimates. One might suppose that their new approach would suffer this same problem, an issue not addressed by Little et al. However, we demonstrate here why the Little et al. approach obviates this requirement that heretofore was thought to be necessary for all constrained, partially constrained, and unconstrained approaches. Both the Marsh et al. and Little et al. unconstrained approaches typically result in similar results and are much easier to implement than traditional constrained approaches. They differ primarily in that the Little et al. approach is a 2-step approach involving a potentially large number of separate analyses prior to estimating the structural equation model that apparently does not require the estimation of a mean structure, whereas the Marsh et al. approach is a 1-step approach that includes a mean structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In computerized adaptive testing (CAT), traditionally the most discriminating items are selected to provide the maximum information so as to attain the highest efficiency in trait (θ) estimation. The maximum information (MI) approach typically results in unbalanced item exposure and hence high item-overlap rates across examinees. Recently, Yi and Chang (2003) proposed the multiple stratification (MS) method to remedy the shortcomings of MI. In MS, items are first sorted according to content, then difficulty and finally discrimination parameters. As discriminating items are used strategically, MS offers a better utilization of the entire item pool. However, for testing with imposed non-statistical constraints, this new stratification approach may not maintain its high efficiency. Through a series of simulation studies, this research explored the possible benefits of a mixture item selection approach (MS-MI), integrating the MS and MI approaches, in testing with non-statistical constraints. In all simulation conditions, MS consistently outperformed the other two competing approaches in item pool utilization, while the MS-MI and the MI approaches yielded higher measurement efficiency and offered better conformity to the constraints. Furthermore, the MS-MI approach was shown to perform better than MI on all evaluation criteria when control of item exposure was imposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In substantively important research, Li, Duncan, and Acock (2000) and Duncan, Duncan, Strycker, Li, and Alpert (1999) extended Joreskog and Yang's (1996) structural equation model of latent interactions to latent growth modeling. We address 2 concerns with their approach: (a) Parameter constraints specified in their models were apparently inappropriate, and (b) they did not specify a full interaction model. Here we present more appropriate constraints and demonstrate a full interaction model for latent growth modeling that simultaneously estimates (a) the interaction between rates of change (slopes) of 2 predictors on the rate of change (slope) of the outcome and (b) the interaction between initial levels of growth (intercepts) of 2 predictors on the initial level (intercept) of outcome. Based on mathematical derivation and a comparison of alternative models fitted to simulated data, we show that our model is more appropriate and that their models can result in seriously biased parameter estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study revisited the unresolved issue of the long-term effects of part-time working intensity during high school on students' achievement, participation in postsecondary education, time allocation, and work-related values and expectations. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (N = 14,654), the effects of part-time working in Year 12 on outcomes assessed at graduation from high school and 2 years later were studied with propensity score methods for categorical treatments. Three theoretical perspectives on the effects of part-time working intensity (subversion of academic goals, character building, threshold model) were contrasted. Substantively, there were negative linear effects of working intensity on achievement outcomes. Results for higher education participation partly supported a threshold model. Heterogeneous effects for self-reported time use and work-related values suggested that the negative effects on achievement outcomes were not due to a simple zero-sum game. Ironically, working with high intensity led students to value having a good job more strongly but might undermine their chances of achieving this goal. However, these effects were only recognized 2 years after high school graduation, when occupational expectations were negatively affected by working intensity in Year 12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined pedagogic components of Chinese reading literacy in a representative sample of 1164 Grades 7, 9 and 11 Chinese students (mean age of 15 years) from 11 secondary schools in Hong Kong with each student tested for about 2.5 hours. Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses showed that across the three grade levels, the eight reading literacy constructs (Essay Writing, Morphological Compounding, Correction of Characters and Words, Segmentation of Text, Text Comprehension, Copying of Characters and Words, Writing to Dictation and Reading Aloud), each subserved by multiple indicators, had differential concurrent prediction of scaled internal school performance in reading and composing. Writing–reading and their interactive effects were foremost in their predictive power, followed by performance in error correction and writing to dictation, morphological compounding, segmenting text and copying with reading aloud playing a negligible role. Our battery of tasks with some refinement could serve as a screening instrument for secondary Chinese students struggling with Chinese reading literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This Monte Carlo simulation study investigated different strategies for forming product indicators for the unconstrained approach in analyzing latent interaction models when the exogenous factors are measured by unequal numbers of indicators under both normal and nonnormal conditions. Product indicators were created by (a) multiplying parcels of the larger scale by items of the smaller scale, and (b) matching items according to reliability to create several product indicators, ignoring those items with lower reliability. Two scaling approaches were compared where parceling was not involved: (a) fixing the factor variances, and (b) fixing 1 loading to 1 for each factor. The unconstrained approach was compared with the latent moderated structural equations (LMS) approach. Results showed that under normal conditions, the LMS approach was preferred because the biases of its interaction estimates and associated standard errors were generally smaller, and its power was higher than that of the unconstrained approach. Under nonnormal conditions, however, the unconstrained approach was generally more robust than the LMS approach. It is recommended to form product indicators by using items with higher reliability (rather than parceling) in the matching and then to specify the model by fixing 1 loading of each factor to unity when adopting the unconstrained approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]