Paradoxically, school leaders as a group report high levels of burnout but also high job satisfaction and passion for their work. School principals are passionate about their job, but this passion can be a double-edged sword leading to good (job satisfaction) and bad (burnout) outcomes. We extend the dualistic model of passion (DMP) in a study of…

Ever since the classic research of Nicholls (1976) and others, effort has been recognized as a double-edged sword: while it might enhance achievement, it undermines academic self-concept (ASC). However, there has not been a thorough evaluation of the longitudinal reciprocal effects of effort, ASC, and achievement, in the context of modern…

This study evaluated the nature of the life satisfaction construct with an emphasis on the comparison between a global or domain-specific operationalization during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. A combination of person-centered and variable-centered methods were used to analyze 7 waves of data covering the postschool transition from…

The temporal ordering of depression, aggression, and victimization has important implications for theory, policy, and practice. For a representative sample of high school students (Grades 7-10; N = 3,793) who completed the same psychometrically strong, multiitem scales 6 times over a 2-year period, there were reciprocal effects between…

Studies adopting a construct validity approach can be categorized into within- and between-network studies. Few studies have applied between-network approach and tested the correlations of the social (same-sex relations, opposite-sex relations, parent relations), moral (honesty-trustworthiness), and emotional (emotional stability) facets of the…

For the international Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS2007) math and science motivation scales (self-concept, positive affect, and value), we evaluated the psychometric properties (factor structure, method effects, gender differences, and convergent and discriminant validity) in 4 Arab-speaking countries (Saudi Arabia,…

Background: The multidimensionality of the academic self-concept in terms of domain specificity has been well established in previous studies, whereas its multidimensionality in terms of motivational functions (the so-called affect-competence separation) needs further examination. Aim: This study aims at exploring differential effects of enjoyment…

The most popular measures of multidimensional constructs typically fail to meet standards of good measurement: goodness of fit, measurement invariance, lack of differential item functioning, and well-differentiated factors that are not so highly correlated as to detract from their discriminant validity. Part of the problem, the authors argue, is…

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model and dimensional comparison theory posit paradoxical relations between achievement (ACH) and self-concept (SC) in mathematics (M) and verbal (V) domains; ACH in each domain positively affects SC in the matching domain (e.g., MACH to MSC) but negatively in the nonmatching domain (e.g., MACH to…

Recently graduated university students from all Australian Universities rate their overall departmental and university experiences (DUEs), and their responses (N = 44,932, 41 institutions) are used by the government to benchmark departments and universities. We evaluate this DUE strategy of rating overall departments and universities rather than…

Classroom context and climate are inherently classroom-level (L2) constructs, but applied researchers sometimes--inappropriately--represent them by student-level (L1) responses in single-level models rather than more appropriate multilevel models. Here we focus on important conceptual issues (distinctions between climate and contextual variables;…

NEO instruments are widely used to assess Big Five personality factors, but confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) conducted at the item level do not support their a priori structure due, in part, to the overly restrictive CFA assumptions. We demonstrate that exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), an integration of CFA and exploratory…

Whether "more is ever too much" for the number of indicators per factor in confirmatory factor analysis was studied by varying sample size and indicators per factor in 35,000 Monte Carlo solutions. Results suggest that traditional rules calling for fewer indicators for smaller sample size may be inappropriate. (SLD)

Abrami and d'Apollonia dispute previous findings of the multidimensionality of students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness, but their analysis has several weaknesses, particularly in the failure to distinguish between exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Support for the multidimensional perspective remains strong. (SLD)

Reanalysis of the factor analysis of S. Simpson, B. Licht, R. Wagner, and S. Stader (1996) of children's responses to four ability-related self-perceptions shows how applying a construct validity approach leads to conclusions opposed to theirs but still consistent with previous theory and research on academic self-concept. (SLD)