for reviewing and rating terms, and to Jérôme Rossier for advice in study planning. A pre-registered analysis plan and study materials (data, syntax, qualitative summaries, etc.) are available on the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/sa698/.

Religiousness and spirituality are important in the study of psychology for several reasons: They are central to identity and values; they have been reported as being positively associated with health and well-being; and they capture (and perhaps lead to) the largest measurable psychological differences between societies. At five items, the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) is an efficient measure, which advantageously distinguishes between religious sentiment and activity, and between formal versus private involvement. This project extends its internal validation throughout the world, with formal tests of measurement invariance in three languages in Namibia (Study 1) and in a global sample of 26 countries (Study 2). Results confirmed a two-subscale factorial structure of Religious Activity (combining organizational and non-organizational activities) and Intrinsic Religiosity in Namibia and in half of the 26-country samples. In 13 other countries, fit was best for a one-factor model. Fit was problematic where there was too little intra-national variance: in China and Japan, where religious involvement is universally low, and in Tanzania, where it is universally high. Scalar measurement invariance was found for the one-factor structure across 13 samples and for the two-factor structure across 11 samples. External validation of the scale is examined using psychological and sociodemographic variables. This validation of the DUREL supports its use across contexts, facilitating increased attention to this important aspect of both personality and culture.

Objective: This study explores a personality inventory derived from the results of an indigenous lexical study of personality. From the 272 most commonly used personality descriptors in Khoekhoegowab, the most-spoken of extant Khoesan click languages of southern Africa, an 11-factor model of personality-trait structure was identified. Here, the Khoekhoegowab Personality Inventory (KPI) was created based on those results. Its psychometric properties, the convergent and divergent validity of its scales, and its incremental validity over Big Five and Six traits for predicting physical and mental health, religious practice and attitudes, and income are reported.Methods: Two to five key terms were selected for each of 10 KPI scales: Temperance, Prosocial Diligence, Gossip, Honesty/Morality, Temper, Implacability, Humility, Vanity, Resiliency vs. Agitation, and Courage vs. Fear. These 38 total items were administered to a large sample of adult speakers of Khoekhoegowab in Namibia (N = 632), together with five imported inventories translated into Khoekhoegowab: the 30-item Questionnaire Big Six (QB6), General Self-Reported Health, the Cascades Mental Health Assessment, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Duke Religion Index. The properties and intercorrelations of KPI subscales are explored, and their predictive ability for the other variables is compared to that of the QB6.Results: Due to the small number of items on each scale, poor internal consistency was anticipated, but the KPI scales' properties were somewhat better than those of the QB6. R-square change by the inventories as a whole, after accounting for age and gender, indicted that the KPI scales explained more variance than the QB6 scales in almost all criterion variables. Replication of established associations for Big Six traits was mixed: associations were largely as expected for Resiliency, Conscientiousness, and Honesty, but less so for Agreeableness and Extraversion.Conclusions: The KPI had some advantages over the QB6 in predicting physical and mental health. In particular, the four items of Resiliency vs. Agitation predicted lower scores on all physical and mental problem scales. Given psychological-care needs in Namibia, this might be used as a non-intrusive screener. Measurement challenges common to both surveys are discussed, possible solutions, and the utility of higher-order structures are discussed.

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Euro-centric psychiatric conceptualizations often ignore the interplay of local with universal factors in psychological suffering. Emic, locally focused perspectives can enrich etic knowledge to provide culturally sensitive care and to better elucidate the role of culture in mental illness. This study explored the idiom Tsûsa ǃNaeǃkhais xa hâǃnâ/mâǃnâ/ǂgâǃnâhe hâ (a terrible event has entered a person and remains standing inside), which was understood to relate to experiences of trauma and post-traumatic stress, among speakers of Khoekhoegowab, a southern-African click language. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants from six urban and rural communities in Namibia. Questions probed perceptions of the idiom in terms of etiology, course, and risk and resilience factors from a socio-ecological framework. Five key themes were identified using thematic analysis: origin in a shocking event; intrusive recurrence of memories, “it keeps on coming back”; the close interplay between mental and physical suffering; the importance of active engagement in healing through prayer and acceptance; and the role of the community in both alleviating and amplifying distress. Our findings highlight local norms and strategies for adaptive coping, and the benefits of exploring local idioms to elucidate the braiding together of universal and cultural elements in psychological distress.

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