Individual response style behaviors, unrelated to the latent trait of interest, may influence responses to ordinal survey items. Response style can introduce bias in the total score with respect to the trait of interest, threatening valid interpretation of scores. Despite claims of response style stability across scales, there has been little…

Longitudinal studies have steadily grown in popularity across the educational and behavioral sciences, particularly with the increased availability of technological devices that allow the easy collection of repeated measures on multiple dimensions of substantive relevance. This article discusses a procedure that can be used to evaluate population…

Previous research has found the effects of acquiescence to be generally consistent across item "aggregates" within a single survey (i.e., essential tau-equivalence), but it is unknown whether this phenomenon is consistent at the" individual item" level. This article evaluated the often assumed but inadequately tested…

The California Psychological Inventory's Dominance scale was investigated for inconsistencies in item-trait associations across four samples (one American normative and three culturally dissociated manager groupings). The Kim, Cohen, and Park procedure was used, enabling simultaneous multigroup comparison in addition to the traditional…

In this study, we reanalyzed the classic Hawai'i Family Study of Cognition (HFSC) data using contemporary multilevel modeling techniques. We used the HFSC baseline data ("N" = 6,579) and reexamined the factorial structure of 16 cognitive variables using confirmatory (restricted) measurement models in an explicit sequence. These models…

The goal of this study was to develop a self-report inventory that measures individual differences in the perceived value of mathematical literacy for general education students. The Mathematics Value Inventory (MVI) is grounded in the Eccles et al. model of achievement-related choices and surveys students' beliefs in four areas: interest, general…

Expands upon the Farley (1967) study in three ways: (1) use of experimental manipulation of social desirability response set rather than correlational analysis, (2) use of the recent revision of the Sensation Seeking Scale, and (3) inclusion of sex comparisons. (Author)

Stress-related growth is defined as the perception or experience of deriving benefits from encountering stressful circumstances and, thus, has been identified as a protective factor against stress. The current study revised and subsequently validated scores on an existing measure of stress-related growth in a sample of racial/ethnic minority…

This study evaluates the usefulness of conceptualizing intraindividual stability as a personality construct. The feasibility of developing a psychometric scale which might be used to reliably predict individual stability in self-description, self-concept, and other behavioral domains is assessed. (MS)

Author argues that simplistic and/or heuristic approaches to the Tucker and Messick model (an individual differences model for multidimensional scaling, 1963) are often inadequate. (Author/CB)

Nomothetic and idiographic approaches to the study of individual differences and individuality are discussed. It is argued that traditional nomothetic and idiographic perspectives are limited and alternative perspectives are offered. Computer simulation is proposed as a methodology for examination of these alternative perspectives. (Author/JKS)

Compares eight models for analyzing count data through simulation in the context of prediction of absenteeism to indicate the extent to which each model produces false positives. Results suggest that ordinary least-squares regression does not produce more false positives than expected by chance. The Tobit and Poisson models do yield too many false…