This study examines ethnic, national, familial, and religious identity and well-being of 632 Roma minority and 589 majority adolescents (age: M = 15.98 years, SD = 1.34) in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, and Romania. Results indicated that Roma showed lower endorsement of national identity but stronger religious identity than their majority counterparts. Path models showed positive associations of familial and religious identities with well-being, whereas Roma identity was negatively associated with well-being, particularly for Roma in Bulgaria and Kosovo (countries with a less active policy toward improving conditions of Roma). In the latter countries, Roma ethnic identity is less relevant and weakly associated with psychological well-being of youth.

There is hardly any cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scales (BMSLSS). The current article evaluates the measurement invariance of the BMSLSS across cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study sampled 7,739 adolescents and emerging adults in 23 countries. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of configural and partial measurement weights invariance models, indicating similar patterns and strengths in factor loading for both adolescents and emerging adults across various countries. We found insufficient evidence for scalar invariance in both the adolescents' and the emerging adults' samples. A multi-level confirmatory factor analysis indicated configural invariance of the structure at country and individual level. Internal consistency, evaluated by alpha and omega coefficients per country, yielded acceptable results. The translated BMSLSS across different cultural contexts presents good psychometric characteristics similar to what has been reported in the original scale, though scalar invariance remains problematic. Our results indicate that the BMSLSS forms a brief measure of life satisfaction, which has accrued substantial evidence of construct validity, thus suitable for use in cross-cultural surveys with adolescents and emerging adults, although evaluation of degree of invariance must be carried out to ensure its suitability for mean comparisons.

This article investigated the dimensionality, measurement invariance, and cross-cultural variations of social desirability. A total of 3,471 university students from 20 countries completed an adapted version of the Marlowe–Crowne scale. A two-dimensional structure was revealed in the pooled sample, distinguishing enhancement (endorsement of positive self-description) and denial (rejection of negative self-description). The factor structure was supported in most countries; medium-sized item bias was found in two denial items. In a multilevel analysis, we found that (a) there was more cross-cultural variation in denial than enhancement; (b) females tended to score higher on enhancement whereas males tended to score higher on denial; (c) the Human Development Index, an indicator of country socioeconomic development, was the best (negative) predictor of denial; and (d) both enhancement and denial seemed to be associated with country-level values and personality pertinent to “fitting in.” We conclude that social desirability has a positive and a negative impression management dimension that are meaningfully associated with country-level characteristics, and we argue that social desirability is better interpreted as culturally regulated response amplification.

Abstract. The Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS; Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2008 ) is a recently developed measure of identity that has been shown to be a reliable tool for assessing identity processes in adolescents. This study examines psychometric properties of the U-MICS in a large adolescent sample from seven European countries focused on the interplay of commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. Participants were 1,007 adolescents from Bulgaria (n = 146), the Czech Republic (n = 142), Italy (n = 144), Kosovo (n = 150), Romania (n = 142), Slovenia (n = 156), and the Netherlands (n = 127). We tested the U-MICS measurement invariance, reliability estimates in each language version, and compared latent identity means across groups. Results showed that the U-MICS has good internal consistency as well as configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance across groups in the sampled countries.

The article presents results of a research of student – teacher relationship styles in the school environment, measured by the stroke economy. The sample includes 339 students between the ages of 13 to 15, of whom 198 are from vulnerable and 141 are from invulnerable groups, and 229 teachers between the ages of 24 to 65. The results present significant differences in the styles used by the three groups. Students from vulnerable groups declare preferences for the styles “Don't accept” and “Don't give yourself”, which is expressed in a tendency to devalue their own achievements and successes. Students from invulnerable groups and teachers express preferences for the styles “Don't accept” and “Don't ask”, which suggests manifestations of characteristics such as confidence and a tendency to reject compliments. The obtained results can be used as an approach to increase the efficiency of the student-teacher relationship and improve the social climate in the classroom.