Psychologists often obtain ratings for target individuals from multiple informants such as parents or peers. In this paper we propose a tri-factor model for multiple informant data that separates target-level variability from informant-level variability and item-level variability. By leveraging item-level data, the tri-factor model allows for examination of a single trait rated on a single target. In contrast to many psychometric models developed for multitrait-multimethod data, the tri-factor model is predominantly a measurement model. It is used to evaluate item quality in scale development, test hypotheses about sources of target variability (e.g., sources of trait differences) versus informant variability (e.g., sources of rater bias), and generate integrative scores that are purged of the subjective biases of single informants.
Drawing on a large, nationally representative sample of young adults (the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; N = 15,701; M age = 29.10), we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Mini-IPIP, a 20-item inventory designed to concisely assess the 5 factors of personality. The results suggest that the Mini-IPIP has a 5-factor structure; most of the scales have acceptable reliability; all the scales have partial or full metric invariance; and the scales exhibit some degree of criterion validity. However, the absence of scalar invariance for many of the scales suggests caution when comparing personality scores among groups defined by sex or race and ethnicity. We offer practical considerations for researchers interested in using this inventory with this sample, and also suggestions for modification of the Mini-IPIP.
Psychologists have long been interested in characterizing individual differences in change over time. It is often plausible to assume that the distribution of these individual differences is continuous in nature, yet theory is seldom so specific as to designate its parametric form (e.g., normal). Semiparametric groups-based trajectory models (SPGMs) were thus developed to provide a discrete approximation for continuously distributed growth of unknown form. Previous research has demonstrated the adequacy of the approximation provided by SPGM but only under relatively narrow, theoretically optimal conditions. Under alternative conditions, which may be more common in practice (e.g., higher dimension random effects, smaller sample sizes), this study shows that approximation adequacy can suffer. Furthermore, this study also evaluates whether SPGM's discrete approximation is preferable to a parametric trajectory model that assumes normally distributed random effects when in fact the distribution is modestly nonnormal. The answer is shown to depend on distributional characteristics of both repeated measures (binary or continuous) and random effects (bimodal or skewed). Implications for practice are discussed in light of empirical examples on externalizing behavior.
The objective of this study is to develop a simple, brief, self-report perinatal depression inventory that accurately measures severity in a number of populations. Our team developed 159 Likert-scale perinatal depression items using simple sentences with a fifth-grade reading level. Based on iterative cognitive interviewing (CI), an expert panel improved and winnowed the item pool based on pre-determined criteria. The resulting 67 items were administered to a sample of 628 pregnant and 251 postpartum women with different levels of depression at private and public sector obstetrics clinics, together with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Edinburg Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), as well as Module A of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Diagnoses (SCID). Responses were evaluated using Item Response Theory (IRT). The Perinatal Depression Inventory (PDI)-14 items are highly informative regarding depression severity and function similarly and informatively across pregnant/postpartum, white/non-white, and private-clinic/public-clinic populations. PDI-14 scores correlate well with the PHQ-9, EPDS, and BDI-II, but the PDI-14 provides a more precise measure of severity using far fewer words. The PDI-14 is a brief depression assessment that excels at accurately measuring depression severity across a wide range of severity and perinatal populations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00737-015-0553-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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