A major strength of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is its systematic assessment of response styles, including feigned mental disorders. Recently, Mogge, Lepage, Bell, and Ragatz developed and provided the initial validation for the Negative Distortion Scale (NDS). Using rare symptoms as its detection strategy for feigning, the…

In this article, we present a French adaptation and validation of the Adult Dispositional Hope Scale (ADHS). The sample was composed of 310 French adults. We found that the ADHS scores demonstrated good reliability as well as adequate temporal stability. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a bifactorial structure of the scale. The two…

Motivational factors such as social goals are important features of developing social adjustment, and thus researchers studying social adjustment need psychometrically sound measures of social goals. A valid measure of social goals for English-speaking youth is lacking. Such a measure would increase understanding of children's social adjustment…

This study used item response theory (IRT) to examine the Impulsive Behaviors Checklist for Adolescents (IBCL-A) among 6,276 (67.7% girls) Chinese secondary school students. The IBCL-A included 15 maladaptive impulsive behaviors adapted from the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines. The authors obtained the severity and discrimination…

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) refers to a person's tendency to fear anxiety-related symptoms due to the belief that these symptoms may have harmful consequences. The most widely used operationalization of AS in adults is the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI). The factor structure, gender stability, and psychometric properties of the ASI in a sample of…

This article presents the development of a junior version of the Spanish (Castilian) NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (JS NEO) suitable for adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The psychometric properties of the new JS NEO were investigated using two samples of 2,733 and 983 adolescents in Spain. The results showed that the adult NEO-PI-R factor…

The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) has the longest empirical track record as a valid measure of trait mindfulness. Most of what is understood about trait mindfulness comes from administering the MAAS to relatively homogenous samples of Caucasian adults. This study rigorously evaluates the psychometric properties of the MAAS among Chinese…

Although the use of computerized testing in psychopathology assessment has increased in recent years, limited research has examined the impact of this format in terms of potential differences in test validity rates. The current study explores potential differences in the rates of valid and invalid Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2…

This investigation examined the measurement properties of the Three Domains of Disgust Scale (TDDS). Principal components analysis in Study 1 (n = 206) revealed three factors of Pathogen, Sexual, and Moral Disgust that demonstrated excellent reliability, including test-retest over 12 weeks. Confirmatory factor analyses in Study 2 (n = 406)…

The Symptom Validity Scale (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-FBS [MMPI-2-FBS]) is a standard MMPI-2 validity scale measuring overstatement of somatic distress and subjective disability. Some critics assert the MMPI-2-FBS misclassifies too many medically impaired persons as malingering symptoms. This study tests the assertion of…

The authors explored the utility of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) in assessing adolescents' emotion regulation. Adolescents (11-17 years; N = 870) completed the DERS and measures of externalizing and internalizing problems. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested a similar factor structure in the adolescent sample of the…

Form A of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS-A), a self-report measure of depressive beliefs, is widely used to test Beck's cognitive model of depression. The present study is the first to evaluate the DAS-A factor structure in an adolescent population of 542 high school juniors and the first to examine a hierarchical model. Findings support…

Research linking psychopathic tendencies to childhood behavior problems is predicated on the assumption that the findings are based on using psychometrically sound measures of psychopathic tendencies. Although evaluated with community samples, the psychometric properties of such measures have not been evaluated with inpatient clinical populations…

The authors report the development and initial psychometric evaluation of gender-specific brief screening instruments to identify undetected psychiatric impairment on incarceration. Women and men completed the Correctional Mental Health Screen (CMHS), a 56-item screen derived from validated measures. Representative subsamples completed structured…

Substantial research effort has recently focused on the potential protective effect of cognitively demanding activities on cognitive decline in late life. A significant methodological issue in this effort has been the lack of consistency in approaches to the operational measurement of cognitive activity. In this study, data in support of the…