The Reflective Functioning Scale (RFS) was developed to assess individual differences in the ability to mentalize attachment relationships. The RFS assesses mentalization from transcripts of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). A global score is given by trained coders on an 11-point scale ranging from antireflective to exceptionally reflective.…

Traumatic experiences are common among youths and can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In order to identify traumatized children who need PTSD treatment, instruments that can accurately and efficiently evaluate pediatric PTSD are needed. One such measure is the Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS), which has been found to be a reliable and…

Many studies in the sexual assault literature have found a significant relationship between sexual assault severity and psychological distress, specifically PTSD and suicidality. However, in the current literature, there is an inconsistent and incomplete definition of the construct of assault severity. The present study aims to create a…

The major purpose of this study is to examine the quality of ratings assigned to CR (constructed-response) questions in large-scale assessments from the perspective of Rasch Measurement Theory. Rasch Measurement Theory provides a framework for the examination of rating scale category structure that can yield useful information for interpreting the…

The transition to formal schooling is thought of as a critical educational experience for all children and their families. This transition may be especially critical for those in the largest immigrant group in the United States, Mexican families and their children. Using Critical Race Theory, the aim of the current study was to give Mexican…

How do we assess how happy we are? One theory is that we compare life-as-it-is with standards of how-life-should-be. In this view, happiness emerges from a cognitive evaluation that draws on socially constructed standard of the good life. Another theory holds that we rather infer happiness on the basis of how well we feel most of the time. In that…

The psychometric properties of the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCI-CV) were examined in ninety-six youth with a primary/co-primary diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A confirmatory factor analysis revealed an acceptable model of fit with factors consisting of doubting/checking, obsessing, hoarding, washing,…

We report the development and psychometric evaluations of a self-report instrument designed to screen for psychopathic traits among mainstream community adolescents. Tests of item functioning were initially conducted with 26 adolescents. In a second study the new instrument was administered to 150 high school adolescents, 73 of who had school…

Despite the wealth of accumulated research evaluating subjective wellbeing (SWB) in children and adults, the validity of scores from parallel forms of SWB measures for each age group has yet to be empirically tested. This study examines the psychometric equivalence of the child and adult forms of the personal wellbeing index (PWI) using…

Translating existing sociodental indicators to another language involves a rigorous methodology, which can be costly. Free-of-charge online translator tools are available, but have not been evaluated in the context of research involving quality of life measures. To explore the value of using online translator tools to develop oral health-related…

In contrast to the well documented male advantage in psychometric mental rotation tests, gender differences in chronometric experimental designs are still under dispute. Therefore, a systematic investigation of gender differences in mental rotation performance in primary-school children is presented in this paper. A chronometric mental rotation…

Research on statistical cognition and application suggests that statistical inference concepts are commonly misunderstood by students and even misinterpreted by researchers. Although some research has been done on students' misunderstanding or misconceptions of confidence intervals (CIs), few studies explore either students' or mathematics…

"Data modeling" is an approach that helps students to transform initial, and often misguided, understandings of variability and chance to forms of reasoning that coordinate chance with variability by designing learning environments that support this reasoning by allowing students to invent and revise models. The Assessing Data Modeling…

The concept "academic culture" has been used as a framework to understand faculty work in higher education. Academic culture research builds on organizational psychology concepts of culture and climate to better understand employee practices and work phenomenon. Ample research has investigated faculty teaching at the disciplinary and…

This paper provides a history of ETS's role in developing assessment instruments and psychometric procedures for measuring change in large-scale national assessments funded by the Longitudinal Studies branch of the National Center for Education Statistics. It documents the innovations developed during more than 30 years of working with…