The Italian Version of the State-Trait Cheerfulness Inventory Trait Form: Psychometric Validation and Evaluation of Measurement Invariance

Abstract

The State-Trait Cheerfulness Inventory–Trait Version (STCI-T60) measures the temperamental basis of sense of humor involving theoretically derived personality dispositions of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood. The reliability and validity of the newly developed STCI-T60 Italian version were assessed in a sample of Italian speakers ( N = 683). Proper fit for a three-dimensional factor structure observed in previous studies was replicated and each factor demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and test–retest reliability. The associations between the STCI subscales and major personality dimensions, optimism, resilience, stress, and general well-being were further examined and results were in the expected directions (e.g., cheerfulness and bad mood being positively and negatively associated with well-being variables, respectively). Cross-cultural invariance examination was conducted to provide more validity data for the Italian STCI. Metric invariance was found between Italian and Canadian English speakers ( N = 632), but scalar invariance was not shown.

Assessing the Temperamental Basis of the Sense of Humor: Adaptation of the English Language Version of the State-Trait Cheerfulness Inventory Long and Standard Form

“…The three factors were clearly identified as the three theoretically expected factors of cheerfulness (1), seriousness (2), and bad mood (3), in line with other recent findings on the pilot version of the STCI-T <60> (see Lau et al, 2018 ). All items loaded highest on their theoretically expected factor and no important second loadings occurred, see Table 10 .…”

“…For trait bad mood, the exact opposite pattern was found. For trait seriousness, a positive correlation to resilience was reported (Lau et al, 2018 ).…”

Measuring Statistics Attitudes at the Student and Instructor Levels: A Multilevel Construct Validity Study of the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics

“…First, we used the item parceling technique. While numerous studies have defended this methodology from either a theoretical or empirical perspective (Lau, Chiesi, Hofmann, Ruch, & Saklofske, 2020; Little, Rhemtulla, Gibson, & Schoemann, 2013; Martin et al, 2010), using parcels may obscure sources of sample variance (Little et al, 2013). Future studies may explore the possibility of item-level analysis of multilevel statistics attitude data using categorical data analytical approaches.…”

The state-trait model of cheerfulness: Tests of measurement invariance and latent mean differences in European and Chinese Canadian students

“…Depressed patients showed lower cheerfulness, higher seriousness, and greater bad mood compared to healthy control counterparts, suggesting the role of these traits in affecting the threshold of experiencing amusement ( Falkenberg, Jarmuzek, Bartels, & Wild, 2011 ). The utility of the measure in capturing these important characteristics fundamental to humor has led to translation in over 10 languages utilized across research settings and humor-related interventions ( Hofmann et al, 2018 ; Lau, Chiesi, Hofmann, Ruch, & Saklofske, 2019 ; Ruch & Hofmann, 2017 ; Ruch, Hofmann, Rusch, & Stolz, 2018 ).…”