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This study examines the potential roles of self-guides (ideal L2 self/outght-to L2 self), enjoyment, and gender in language achievement. A total of 727 Chinese high school students participated in this study and data were collected through a questionnaire survey. Path analysis showed that ideal self was positively related to both enjoyment and language performance with enjoyment mediating the relation in between. In contrast, ought-to L2 self was found to be unrelated to language enjoyment and negatively related to language performance. Independent t-test revealed that female students had higher levels of ideal L2 self and language enjoyment than male students. The comparison of the model across gender suggested that gender moderated the direct and indirect path from ideal self to language performance and the path from enjoyment to language performance. The pedagogical implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress represents a significant risk factor for several psychophysical diseases among college students, such as depression and anxiety, which may undermine their academic functioning, resulting in high drop rates from college. Nevertheless, university services for mental health promotion are typically underutilized. As a result, professionals and authorities strive to find new ways to address students' mental health needs. In this view, mobile apps seem appropriate for well-being promotion interventions. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which is the most widely used theory on users' intention to use technologies, we assumed that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) would be positively related to intention to use (INT), and PEOU would be positively related to PU among both Italian and German university students. To test our hypotheses, we replicated the same cross-sectional study in Italy (n = 255) and Germany (n = 228) with university students. Although we found partial scalar invariance of the TAM dimensions across the two nations, our predictions were only partially confirmed: PEOU was positively related to PU in the Italian sample only. Overall, this study is one of the first empirical attempts to compare TAM cross-nationally within the European context and it contributes to the small but increasing body of research investigating students' acceptance of smartphone-based interventions for stress management and well-being promotion. Understanding mobile health acceptance could help universities increase students' chances of adopting the proposed services, considering the factors influencing this choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of the present study is to examine the measurement invariance of the structural equating model constructed on the numerical and verbal abilities test for sixth grade students across gender, amount of weekly pocket money and students’ perceptions of the sufficiency of their pocket money. The secondary aim is to illustrate the use of the IBM AMOS-24 software package step by step with examples to address invariance using the covariance structural analysis approach. The research data were collected from 2304 sixth grade students enrolled in public schools within the Keçiören and Pursaklar suburbs in Ankara. The covariance structures analysis approach was employed during the examination of the measurement model invariance. The study revealed that invariance was achieved in terms of configural, measurement (in both measurement weights and measurement residuals) and structural invariance with respect to all subgroups.

The current study set out to understand the factors that explain working adults' microlearning usage intentions using the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB). Specifically, the authors were interested in differences, if any, in the factors that explained microlearning acceptance across gender, age and proficiency in technology. 628 working adults gave their responses to a 46-item, self-rated, 5-point Likert scale developed to measure 12 constructs of the DTPB model. Results of this study revealed that a 12-factor model was valid in explaining microlearning usage intentions of all working adults, regardless of demographic differences. Tests for measurement invariance showed support for invariance in model structure (configural invariance), factor loadings (metric invariance), item intercepts (scalar invariance), and item residuals (strict invariance) between males and females, between working adults below 40 years and above 40 years, and between working adults with lower technology proficiency and higher technology proficiency levels. While measurement invariance existed in the data, structural invariance was only found across gender, not age and technology proficiency. We then assessed latent mean differences and structural path differences across groups. Our findings suggest that a tailored approach to encourage the use of microlearning is needed to suit different demographics of working adults. The current study discusses the implications of the findings on the use and adoption of microlearning and proposes future research possibilities.

Interindividual differences in how people think and feel about politics have been investigated for decades. However, the great number of attitudinal concepts that has been developed to describe these differences is likely to distract from their conceptual overlap and dimensional structure. In addition, not much is known about the cross‐cultural invariance of their interrelation. We propose that attitudes towards politics can be structured by two broad higher‐order factors, a factor of general political involvement and a factor of general political trust. In two studies (N1 = 767; N2 = 29,018), including representative samples from 26 democracies, we first conduct several confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to show that the higher‐order model is a well‐fitting and parsimonious alternative to a baseline model without higher‐order factors in most samples. Second, we present evidence from multigroup CFA that the overall patterns of factor loadings are the same across all 26 countries. We interpret this structural equivalence across different democracies as support for the assumption that general political involvement and general political trust reflect basic orientations towards politics that are based on (1) demands of democratic political systems and (2) universal principles in human trait structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study set out to understand the factors that explain working adults' microlearning usage intentions using the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB). Specifically, the authors were interested in differences, if any, in the factors that explained microlearning acceptance across gender, age and proficiency in technology. 628 working adults gave their responses to a 46-item, self-rated, 5-point Likert scale developed to measure 12 constructs of the DTPB model. Results of this study revealed that a 12-factor model was valid in explaining microlearning usage intentions of all working adults, regardless of demographic differences. Tests for measurement invariance showed support for invariance in model structure (configural invariance), factor loadings (metric invariance), item intercepts (scalar invariance), and item residuals (strict invariance) between males and females, between working adults below 40 years and above 40 years, and between working adults with lower technology proficiency and higher technology proficiency levels. While measurement invariance existed in the data, structural invariance was only found across gender, not age and technology proficiency. We then assessed latent mean differences and structural path differences across groups. Our findings suggest that a tailored approach to encourage the use of microlearning is needed to suit different demographics of working adults. The current study discusses the implications of the findings on the use and adoption of microlearning and proposes future research possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Item parcels are the indicators of a factor which are created by summing or averaging scores of individual items. Item parceling has been widely applied in structural equation modeling (SEM) but has been less discussed in the multi-group context, especially for structural parameter invariance. The present study investigated the effect of item parceling on parameter bias and invariance tests at the structural level (i.e., latent means and a structural path) in multi-group SEM using a Monte Carlo simulation study. The results show that under a correctly specified measurement invariance model, indicator type would not introduce bias in structural parameter estimates. The estimation and statistical decision would depend on the assumption for measurement (non-)invariance and testing method, rather than the indicator type. When falsely assuming measurement invariance, latent mean or structural path differences are likely to be biased and to conclude incorrect statistical decisions in testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many measures of student perceptions of school climate; accordingly, there is a staggering amount of research examining those perceptions and related outcomes. There is a comparatively small number of measures examining school personnel perceptions. Of those found, only some had evidence of measurement invariance/equivalence (MI/E). None found with evidence of MI/E had evidence of structural invariance/equivalence (SI/E). This article explores these psychometric properties of The Georgia School Personnel Survey (GSPS) of school climate. We analyzed a representative sample of Georgia school personnel (N = 166,887) through exploratory, confirmatory, and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Results indicated that the GSPS has a second-order model containing six first-order subscales loading onto a second-order scale (acting as a measure of whole-school climate). Assessment of MI/E and SI/E suggested that the GSPS is an appropriate measure for comparisons based on gender, racial/ethnic identity, grade level, and job classification. Implications for research and practice will be discussed referencing the Cultural–Ecological Model of School Climate (CEMSC). Impact Statement This research provides psychometric properties for the Georgia School Personnel Survey (GSPS) of school climate, giving school personnel, lawmakers, and researchers information necessary to justify the use of the GSPS as a valid tool to assess and confidently compare staff perceptions of school climate. Specifically, this research provides evidence that the GSPS may be used to compare perceptions of school climate between school staff based on demographic characteristics (gender, racial/ethnic identity, job classification, and grade level). This research may be of special interest to a range of stakeholders, including school psychologists, district- and school-level administrators, and policymakers who are interested in comparing perceptions within schools or systems. School psychologists, who are trained as data-based decision-makers, play an important role as advocates to administrators and other school personnel. Specifically, school psychologists can help teams to analyze and interpret data as part of an empirically-based intervention to address the needs of school personnel. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1958645. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a survey of opportunities to participate (OtP) in science that will allow educators and researchers to closely approximate the types of learning opportunities students have in science classrooms. Additionally, we examined whether and how opportunity gaps in science learning may exist across schools with different socioeconomic levels. The OtP in science survey consists of four dimensions that include acquiring foundational knowledge, planning an investigation, conducting an investigation, and using evidence to communicate findings. A total of 1214 middle school students across 8 diverse school districts completed the survey. Tests of reliability, construct validity, measurement invariance, and external validity were conducted using data collected at the beginning and end of the school year. Results showed evidence that the OtP in science survey scores were internally reliable, invariant across school socioeconomic groups across and time points (i.e., lacking systematic biases in responses by group or time point), and externally valid. Given that scores from the survey were reliable and valid indicators of the four dimensions of interest, structural invariance tests were conducted to examine possible differences in OtP in science across schools from high, middle, and low socioeconomic backgrounds. Findings demonstrate specific ways opportunity gaps to learn science manifest in lower income schools. We discuss the implications of these gaps for science instruction, professional development, policy, and diverse students' interest and achievement in science, and propose several lines of future study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called traditional motor games are group situations that function like small-scale societies, full of emotionally rich vicissitudes and proper objectives, alliances, and antagonisms. Traditional games have certainly been the object of many dispersed, really interesting studies, but no general conception of them, based on a scientifically supported methodological approach, has been developed so far. How do these games work? Does their development depend on sheer chance? Does it respond to any underlying structures? Is this development anyhow related to the socio-emotional dynamics of the group of players? As a whole, do these games, so different from each other, have any common characteristics that generate similar effects on the personality of the players? In the end, is what we know about a given game comparable and generalisable to any other one?

The so-called traditional motor games are group situations that function like small-scale societies, full of emotionally rich vicissitudes and proper objectives, alliances, and antagonisms. Traditional games have certainly been the object of many dispersed, really interesting studies, but no general conception of them, based on a scientifically supported methodological approach, has been developed so far. How do these games work? Does their development depend on sheer chance? Does it respond to any underlying structures? Is this development anyhow related to the socio-emotional dynamics of the group of players? As a whole, do these games, so different from each other, have any common characteristics that generate similar effects on the personality of the players? In the end, is what we know about a given game comparable and generalisable to any other one? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Design and evaluation of physical activity interventions depends upon valid instruments to assess mediating processes. The Physical Activity Self-Efficacy Scale (PASES) has been used in a variety of forms within samples of African American and Caucasian children. Method: This study was designed to extend the statistical validity of the scores from the PASES by comparing 1 and 3-factor models and testing measurement invariance between Hispanic and Caucasian children. 883 fourth and fifth graders were recruited (mean age, 9.71 y; 48% female, 52% male; 67% Hispanic, 33% Caucasian). The factor structure was tested with confirmatory factor analysis, using two-group analyses to model ethnic differences. Results: The 17-item, 3-factor version of the PASES evidenced poor fit with the data. In contrast, an 8-item, 1-factor solution provided adequate fit for both samples. Conclusions: The 8-item, 1-factor version of the PASES provides statistically valid scores for Hispanic and Caucasian children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of comparing different groups in terms of perceptions of justice and justice effects, it is essential that the instrument used to measure perceptions behaves the same way across all groups. This study investigates the measurement invariance of the four-factor structure of organizational justice across nine Arab countries. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis is used with 2,914 employees working in the public sector to represent the variety of cultures among the Arab nations. We assess organizational justice using a measure developed by Alkhadher and Gadelrab primarily for Arab cultural perspectives of justice. This study shows that the four-dimensional model of justice is valid across the nine countries at the configural, metric, and scalar invariance. Fit indices showed sufficient to optimal fit, and difference test values were not significant across the set of the increasingly constrained confirmatory factor models. According to these results, we conclude that comparisons could be made safely on the justice latent variable level across the nine Arab groups. Moreover, justice dimension intercorrelations were found to be moderate to high and independent of cultural groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed a model to explain the students' and teachers' intention to use (ITU) technology. A sample of 1,095 participants (503 students and 592 teachers) responded to a 15-item, 7-point scale designed to measure six variables: perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use, attitude toward use (ATU), facilitating conditions, computer self-efficacy (CSE), and ITU technology. Results of this study showed that the six variables were valid in explaining the ITU technology for both student and teacher groups. Hypothesis tests revealed that eight of nine hypotheses were supported. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis found support for full configural and metric invariance, and partial scalar invariance in the data. Finally, the results revealed that only two paths, PU → ATU and CSE → ATU were structurally invariant in the research model. Implications of this study are discussed and future research possibilities proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how “confluence” and “autonomy,” two key concepts introduced by Frisch around 1930, have disappeared in econometrics textbooks and why only some fragments of the two have survived mainstream econometrics. It relates the disappearance to the defect in the textbook position of equating a priori theoretical models as correct structural models unequivocally. It shows how the confluence-autonomy pair in unity reflects the complexity of econometricians’ goal to find and verify robust and economically meaningful models out of numerous interdependent variables observable from the real and open world. The complexity deems it essential for applied research to have a set of model design rules combining both a priori substantive reasoning and a posteriori statistical testing. Such a need also puts the task of ensuring an adequately minimum model closure to top priority for applied modellers, a task much more important than the textbook task of parameter estimation.

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Detecting psychological distress among international students can be challenging given diverse languages, cultural backgrounds, and lack of refined measurement properties of measures tailored to international students. Despite the challenges, ensuring that a psychological distress measure works effectively has considerable potential value for assessment purposes. The current study evaluates the measurement properties of a short 10-item version of Radloff’s Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Grounded in long-standing evidence on gender differences in depressive symptoms, specific attention was given to examining measurement invariance of the CES-D Short-form across women and men. Based on a large, two-cohort sample of international students (N = 468), and through multiple analyses evaluating factor structure and measurement invariance, we derived an even briefer, seven-item single-factor form of the CES-D (CES-D Short-form International) that can be used with international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A specific concept of structural model is used as a background for discussing the structurality of its parameterization. Conditions for a structural model to be also causal are examined. Difficulties and pitfalls arising from the parameterization are analyzed. In particular, pitfalls when considering alternative parameterizations of a same model are shown to have lead to ungrounded conclusions in the literature. Discussions of observationally equivalent models related to different economic mechanisms are used to make clear the connection between an economically meaningful parameterization and an economically meaningful decomposition of a complex model. The design of economic policy is used for drawing some practical implications of the proposed analysis.

The current study examined the measurement and structural invariance of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) across ratings provided by men (N = 227) and women (N = 460). Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported full metric invariance and intercepts invariance for 20 of the 21 items. Invariance for all item intercepts was supported by multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) procedure that controlled for the effects of age. Multiple-group CFA supported invariance for all factor variances and covariances. This procedure and the MIMIC analyses found equivalency for all latent mean scores. These findings indicate good support for measurement and structural invariance of the DASS-21 rating across men and women. The psychometric and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-cultural researches on the Ryff's Psychological Well-being (PWB) Scales are currently not available. The aim of the paper was to investigate the measurement invariance of the 18-item version of the PWB Scales across 1,114 high school and undergraduate Italian and Belarusian students. After identifying the six correlated first-order factors and one second-order factor model of the Ryff's PWB Scales, as baseline model for each sample, multi-groups confirmatory factor analyses were subsequently performed. All analyses were performed using the Robust Diagonally Weighted Least Squares estimation procedures, entering a polychoric correlation matrix. Multi-groups analyses showed that factor structure of the preferred model did not change across the Italian and Belarusian samples. Although the obtained results provided a preliminary support for cross-cultural structural invariance of the PWB Scales, further investigations are required to ensure its generalizability and applicability. Limitations and suggestions for future researches as well as psychosocial applications for educational context were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated a model linking internalization and dieting behaviors in a sample (n = 499) of Latina/o and White college students. Analyses revealed that the scales were invariant across ethnic and gender groups and generally supported the invariance of the proposed model across these groups. Analyses also revealed no ethnic mean differences between the constructs, but females did score higher than males on most constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the structural invariance of the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ) in American, Chinese, and Dutch college students. Using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), the authors found evidence for the four-factor structure of achievement goals in all three samples. Subsequent multigroup CFAs supported structural invariance of the AGQ across the samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale (BPNWS) in French, but items are also provided in English in the article. The BPNWS is a work-related self-report instrument designed to measure the degree to which the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as identified by Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), are satisfied at work. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the first study examines the structure of the BPNWS in a group of 271 workers. The second study tests the measurement invariance of the scale in a group of 851 teachers from two different cultures, Canada and France. Results support the three-factor structure and show adequate internal consistency, as well as nomological validity across samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The models presented here posit a complex relationship between efficacy in student engagement and intent-to-leave that is mediated by in-class variables of instructional management, student behavior stressors, aspects of burnout, and job satisfaction. Using data collected from 631 teachers, analyses provided support for the two models that predicted teachers'' intent-to-leave. To enhance generalizability, this study also tested whether the structural coefficients were invariant across teacher gender and grade level. With one exception, the models appeared largely invariant across gender and grade level. Supplementing the structural models, measurement invariance and equality of latent factor means were also explored. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The semigroup DV of digraphs on a set V of n labeled vertices is defined. It is shown that DV is faithfully represented by the semigroup Bn of n x n Boolean matrices and that the Green's L, R, H, and D equivalence classifications of digraphs in DV follow directly from the Green's classifications already established for Bn. The new results found from this are: (i) L, R, and H equivalent digraphs contain sets of vertices with identical neighborhoods which remain invariant under certain one-sided semigroup multiplications that transform one digraph into another within the same equivalence class, i.e., these digraphs exhibit Green's isoneighborhood symmetries; and (ii) D equivalent digraphs are characterized by isomorphic inclusion lattices that are generated by their out-neighborhoods and which are preserved under certain two-sided semigroup multiplications that transform digraphs within the same D equivalence class, i.e., these digraphs are characterized by Green's isolattice symmetries. As a simple illustrative example, the Green's classification of all digraphs on two vertices is presented and the associated Green's symmetries are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although an increasing number of studies have investigated relations between dimensions of personality and level of cognitive functioning, the research results have been somewhat inconsistent. Furthermore, relatively little is known about whether the personality-cognition relations vary as a function of age in adulthood. The current project examined these issues with data from a sample of 2,317 adults between 18 and 96 years of age who each completed a personality inventory and performed a broad battery of cognitive tests. The results revealed strong relations of the personality trait of Openness with several distinct cognitive abilities and smaller relations of other personality traits with specific cognitive abilities. Comparisons across different age groups indicated that the personality-cognition relations were both qualitatively and quantitatively similar across the adult years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]