Orientador: Silmara Meneguin / Resumo: Muitas doenças dermatológicas não ameaçam diretamente a vida, mas podem causar desconforto físico e psicológico por afetar a percepção da imagem corporal e causar sintomas desconfortáveis, que podem interferir na percepção de qualidade de vida dos indivíduos acometidos. Objetivos: Comparar o desempenho psicométrico dos instrumentos Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI-BRA) e Skindex-16 na avaliação da qualidade de vida (QV) de pacientes com doenças dermatológicas. Mais especificamente os objetivos foram: avaliar a QV de pacientes com doenças dermatológicas; realizar reteste do DLQI-BRA e do Skindex-16 para avaliar a estabilidade nos casos em que não houve alteração da doença; avaliar a reprodutibilidade teste-reteste do DLQI-BRA e do Skindex-16; avaliar a informatividade dos itens segundo a psicometria clássica e Teoria de Resposta ao Item. Métodos: Estudo transversal, realizado no ambulatório e enfermaria de dermatologia de hospital público do interior de SP, com 188 pacientes portadores de dermatoses cutâneas. Para a coleta dos dados foi utilizado instrumento constituído de dados sociodemográficos. DLQI-BRA, Skindex-16 e escala visual de incômodo para avaliação de QV. Resultados: Prevaleceram participantes do sexo masculino 95 (51%), com companheiro 129 (69%), menos instruídos 102 (54%) e com renda de até R$ 3.000,00. Para a análise da confiabilidade e a estabilidade temporal, utilizou-se o alfa de Cronbach e a Correlação Intra-Classe para Perfeita Concordância (ICC) respec... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Introduction: Many dermatological diseases do not directly threaten life, but they can cause physical and psychological discomfort as they affect the perception of body image and cause uncomfortable symptoms, which can interfere with the perception of quality of life of the affected individuals. Objectives: To compare the psychometric performance of the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI-BRA) and Skindex-16 instruments in the assessment of quality of life (QoL) of patients with dermatological diseases. More specifically, the objectives were: to assess the QOL of patients with dermatological diseases; perform DLQI-BRA and Skindex-16 retest to assess stability in cases where there was no change in the disease; to evaluate the test-retest reproducibility of DLQI-BRA and Skindex-16; evaluate the informativeness of the items according to classical psychometry and Item Response Theory. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, carried out at the dermatology ward and outpatient ward of a public hospital in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil, with 188 patients with cutaneous dermatoses. For data collection, an instrument consisting of sociodemographic data, DLQI-BRA, Skindex-16 and visual nuisance scale was used to assess QoL. Results: There were 95 male participants (51%), one partner 129 (69%) and less educated 102 (54%) and up to R $ 3,000.00. The internal consistency of both instruments was greater than 0.7. Positive correlation was identified between the domains that deal with... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Objective: Obesity is one of the leading public health problems worldwide. Obese individuals are often stigmatized and the psychosocial consequences of overweight and obesity are the subject of current research. To detect stigmatizing attitudes towards obese people, the Fat Phobia Scale (FPS) was developed in the USA in the early nineties. In addition, the 14-item short form of the FPS was constructed. The FPS belongs to the most commonly used instruments for measuring negative attitudes towards obese people because of its good psychometric properties. For the recently developed German short form of the FPS, however, the comprehensive investigation of the psychometric properties and the determination of reference values are still pending. Thus, the main objectives of this study were the evaluation of the psychometric quality of the scale as well as the calculation of reference values. Methods: The study was based on a representative survey in the German general population. A sample of 1,657 subjects (18–94 years) was assessed via structured telephone interviews including the 14-item German version of the FPS. Descriptive statistics and inference-statistical analyses were conducted. Reference values in terms of percentage ranks were calculated. Results: Substantial evidence for the reliability and validity of the German short version of the FPS was found. This study, for the first time in Germany, provides age-specific reference values for the German short form of the FPS allowing the interpretation of individual test scores. Conclusion: Facing the far-reaching consequences of experienced stigmatization of obese individuals, these study results provide an important basis for further studies aiming at the investigation of negative attitudes towards overweight and obesity.

This M.A. thesis deals with the topic of magical thinking in the adult population. The theoretical section of the thesis summarizes the existing findings in regard to the theory and research of magical thinking. The empirical section is dedicated to the development and subsequent validation of the new testing method devised to measure inclinations to magical thinking. Proving the method's validity is firstly aimed at gathering convergent proofs based on the relations towards methods measuring similar constructs, the external criterion being the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS) and the subscale of Esoteric and Personal Superstitious Thinking of the Contrastive Thinking Inventory (CTI). The second part of the research focuses on the validity proofs gathered in relation to the categorical variable - group affiliation - where we test a selective collection of the general public against a selection of technical and natural scientists and a selection of people attending courses with esoteric content. The research results confirm the method's reliability based on the split-half method and they also confirm a high coefficient of inner consistence of Cronbach's alpha. The results of the validation study show a strong correlation between the research inventory and selected scales of the CTI method as...

Latent variable models play an important role in educational and psychological measurement, where items are presented to individuals, resulting in item response data. Such data entail important information about the individual latent traits, population structure and item design, which are key components to be understood in educational and psychological assessments. This thesis focuses on the development of statistical learning methods based on latent variable models with identifiability theories. The thesis consists of three parts, with three kinds of applications in mind. The first part is on the identifiability of diagnostic classification models (DCMs), which is a special subfamily of latent class models. It aims to examine the test takers' ability based on his/her mastery of set of required skills. A key issue common to DCMs and more generally to latent class model is the identifiability which is a property whether the unknown model or related parameters can be estimated consistently under a suitably defined asymptotic regime. Most existing works focus on the identifiability of DCMs with binary responses and attributes. In this thesis, we provide general identifiability results for DCMs with polytoumous responses and attributes and less parameter restrictions. The second part considers the identifiability of testlet factor models, which is a subfamily of latent variable models with underlying continuous latent traits assumed to follow normal distribution. Similar to DCMs, factor models also suffer from identifiability issues, where the parameters can only be identified up to a rotation in general. However, in most applications, testlet models or bifactor models are popular in educational assessment. They are constrained factor models assuming that the response test items can be accounted for by one primary factor and multiple secondary group-specific factors. By aid of this special structure, we can show that the model can be strictly identifiable and we provide checkable necessary and sufficient conditions accordingly. The third part focuses on the statistical learning in studying the complex problem-solving (CPS) items. With advanced computer technology, there is a new trend of developing CPS test items through online platform, where the examinees are asked to solve challenging tasks in a simulated environment. During the test, all actions performed by examinees will be recored into a log file. Therefore, we can not only observe their final responses, but also have access to their entire solving process. Such data type is known as process data in the measurement literature. The traditional item response model cannot be applicable, at least directly. The analysis of the process data is still in its infancy. In the thesis, we propose a new model-based approach and show its usefulness through an interesting real data application.

Quality of life refers to the way in which the person perceives their daily experience, considering in this process the social and cultural component. This implies that to know the perception of the quality of life it is necessary to consider in its measurement the scope of physical, psychological, social, environmental and personal health. Along these lines, one of the instruments that is limited to this approach is the Barnes and Olson Quality of Life Scale (ECVOB). Objective. The purpose of the study was to determine the validity based on the internal structure and reliability of the ECVOB in schoolchildren and university students in Lima. Method. The study design is instrumental. The Spanish version of the ECVOB was used on a sample of 1239 students from Lima between males (57%) and females (43%) aged between 14 and 26 years (M age = 22.45; SD age = 3.75). The evidence of validity of the internal structure was evaluated through a confirmatory factor analysis. Results. The findings suggest a partial restructuring of the original seven-factor model proposed by Olson and Barnes. Conclusion. The new structure of the ECVOB is a valid and reliable measure in schoolchildren and university students in Lima.

<p>With increasing demands in people’s work and life, successful self-regulation of multiple goals/tasks becomes important to one’s well-being and performance. One individual difference in this process is one’s preference for multitasking (i.e., polychronicity), which was found to be important in individuals’ psychological experience and performance. However, in terms of our understanding of the nature of this construct, there are at least two issues: 1) most research has assumed that preference for multitasking and preference for sequential pursuit are opposite ends of one continuum, which has not been directly tested; 2) different scales of polychronicity differ on their definitions of multitasking. To address these gaps, the present research seeks to clarify the relationships among individuals’ multitasking preferences and to develop a new and improved scale of these individual differences for future research in multitasking. To do so, three studies (<em>N</em> = 1367) were conducted to create and validate a scale that measures three potentially distinct preferences: concurrent preference, switching preference, and sequential preference. These studies empirically tested the relationships among the three preferences. The results were replicated in both goal and task contexts and with different response anchors. Findings suggest that it is questionable to assume multitasking preference and sequential preference are antithetical, while concurrent and switching preferences were highly correlated. I conclude with a discussion of the theoretical implications and future directions for multitasking research.</p>

Hispanic youth and families, although they comprise a sizeable portion of the population, are underrepresented in mental health settings within the United States and face significant barriers to receiving adequate treatment. Specifically, the lack of availability of Spanish assessment tools for application in treatment prohibits Hispanic clients from accessing the full extent of available therapeutic resources. The Treatment Support Measure (TSM) is a valid and reliable instrument that allows clinicians and researchers to collect information to better understand change processes and relevant client characteristics in therapy. The present study created a Spanish-translated version of the parent and youth TSM (TSM-SP) and assessed its psychometric properties in a Spanish-speaking community sample of 177 youth and 214 adult caregivers. The internal consistency reliability of all domains of the parent and youth versions of the TSM-SP was good, aside from the Youth Motivation domain. In contrast, the test-retest reliability of all domains of the parent and youth versions of the TSM-SP were generally poor. The construct validity of all domains of the parent and youth versions of the TSM-SP as examined by confirmatory factor analysis was excellent, aside from the Youth Motivation domain. Overall, these results laid the foundation for future research examining the utility and properties of the TSM-SP. The TSM-SP has potential to provide clinicians treating Spanish-speaking youth and families with a useful tool to help better serve these populations in therapy and broaden the scope of research into change processes in youth therapy to involve more diverse populations.

The Modern Homonegativity Scale (MHS) is designed to measure a distinct modern form of prejudice against gay people. Based on the conceptual framework of old-fashioned and modern antigay prejudice advanced by Morrison and Morrison, the present study was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the MHS as a measure of modern antigay prejudice in the southern United States a region where antigay prejudice appears to be particularly pervasive and damaging. This purpose was achieved by analyzing survey responses from 691 adult residents of 14 southern states. As hypothesized, MHS scores were correlated with political conservatism, contact with gay people, nonabusive antigay behavior, and scores on a traditional measure of antigay prejudice. Contrary to hypotheses, MHS scores were not related to sexual orientation, educational level, income level, or religious self-schema. Results concerning the relationships between MHS scores and other known correlates of antigay prejudice were mixed. In factor analyses, items on the MHS and a traditional measure of antigay prejudice did not load on different factors. The results of this study suggest that the MHS is a highly reliable measure of modern antigay prejudice in the South, but that its validity as such is limited. This study promotes positive social change by providing evidence that should aid in the selection of appropriate measures to use in future studies of prejudice against gay people in the South. Such studies promise to result in the development of more effective interventions to reduce antigay prejudice in the southern United States but such studies will produce useful findings only to the extent that the instruments used are reliable and valid measures of the constructs they purport to measure in this region.

A restorative justice alternative to crime prevention termed reintegrative shaming theory by Braithwaite has seen increased attention as an alternative to retributive justice, although empirical investigations of its efficacy are limited. The purpose of the present study was to test confirmatory measurement and structural models of reintegrative shaming theory in order to assess the underlying theoretical model and the application of this theory in response to drunk driving offenses. Nine latent constructs were included in these models: reintegration, stigmatization, perceived fairness, self esteem, shame-guilt, embarrassment-exposure, unresolved shame, offender responsibility, and family support. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to assess for measurement invariance of indicators used to measure these nine latent constructs between 724 drunk driving offenders randomly assigned to traditional court processing versus offenders assigned to reintegrative shaming conferencing following arrest. Partial metric and partial scalar invariance were found. Thus, analyses proceeded by conducting tests for significant differences in the latent means between groups. Offenders assigned to conferencing reported significantly higher mean values on the constructs reintegration, perceived fairness, self-esteem, shame-guilt, and family support, supporting Braithwaite's theory. Finally, a structural model was hypothesized based upon Braithwaite's theory to assess the relationships between the latent constructs. Three additional structural paths were included to achieve an acceptable model fit. This structural model was found to be partially invariant between groups. As predicted, a higher level of reintegration was associated with greater perceived fairness, while a higher level of stigmatization was related to decreased self-esteem and lower perceived fairness. In turn, greater self-esteem and perceived fairness were significantly related to higher reported experiences of shame-guilt and lower ratings of embarrassment exposure. Greater perceived fairness also corresponded to lower reported unresolved shame. Finally, greater shame-guilt was significantly related to greater offender responsibility and family support, while unresolved shame was significantly related to less offender responsibility acceptance. The findings from the current study support Braithwaite's hypotheses regarding the importance and benefits of disapproving of the criminal act and not the person, while allowing offenders to accept responsibility for their actions and attempt to remediate the wrong that they committed.

La santé mentale des enfants « intellectuellement surdoués », une des appellations désignant les enfants présentant des aptitudes intellectuelles jugées particulièrement supérieures à la norme, suscite des questionnements scientifiques en raison de leur vulnérabilité psychologique supposée.L’objectif principal de la thèse était d’explorer les profils psychopathologiques d’enfants surdoués en situation de difficulté psychologique et de rechercher des facteurs cognitifs et psycho-comportementaux associés à la santé mentale chez les enfants intellectuellement surdoués.L’investigation psychopathologique quantitative d’un groupe (n = 143) d’enfants intellectuellement surdoués (QI ≥ 130) amenés à consulter auprès de professionnels de santé de l’enfance pour des difficultés scolaires et/ou d’adaptation sociale a montré des problèmes émotionnels et comportementaux significatifs et variés. Les problèmes émotionnels et comportementaux internalisés prédominaient sur les problèmes externalisés. Un très haut QI (≥ 145) ne semblait pas associé à plus de problèmes émotionnels et comportementaux, en revanche, un profil intellectuel inhomogène était associé à significativement plus de problèmes émotionnels et comportementaux, plus particulièrement des problèmes externalisés et tout particulièrement des comportements agressifs. Le profil intellectuel inhomogène était également associé à plus de syndromes émotionnels et comportementaux complexes (syndromes mixtes). Des investigations supplémentaires concernant l’inhomogénéité intellectuelle, menées dans le même groupe d’enfants et dans deux autres de recrutement comparable (n = 111 et 12 ; respectivement), ont suggéré son association avec certaines variables psychopathologiques, en particulier la dysrégulation émotionnelle et l’hétérogénéité des processus de raisonnements piagétiens.Enfin, une étude menée en milieu scolaire chez 118 collégiens a suggéré que l’inhomogénéité intellectuelle présentait un lien négatif avec l’estime de soi chez les jeunes intellectuellement surdoués.Le principal résultat de la thèse est la mise en évidence d’une association chez les enfants intellectuellement surdoués étudiés entre l’inhomogénéité du profil intellectuel et certaines variables psychopathologiques et de santé mentale, en populations cliniques et scolaire.De nouvelles études, épidémiologiques et cliniques sont néanmoins nécessaires pour mieux cerner la notion d’enfant intellectuellement surdoué elle-même, et préciser les vulnérabilités qui y sont éventuellement associées. / Mental health in intellectually gifted children (IQ ≥ 130) raises scientific questions because of their supposed psychological vulnerability. The main objective of the thesis was to explore the psychopathological profiles of clinically-referred gifted children, and to investigate cognitive, emotional and behavioral factors associated with mental health in gifted children. A quantitative psychopathological investigation of a group (n = 143) of gifted children who were clinically-referred for academic and/or social adaptation problems showed significant and varied emotional and behavioral problems. Internalized problems predominated over externalized ones. A very high IQ (≥ 145) was not associated with more emotional and behavioral problems. An inhomogeneous intellectual profile was associated with significantly more emotional and behavioural problems, particularly externalized ones, and more particularly aggressive ones. Intellectuel inhomogeneity was also associated with more complex emotional and behavioral syndromes (mixed syndromes). Further investigations of intellectual inhomogeneity in the same group of gifted children and in two other ones similarily recruited (n = 111 and 12; respectively) suggested its significant association with certain psychopathological variables, particularly emotional dysregulation and heterogeneity of Piagetian reasoning processes. Finally, a school-based study among 118 secondary school students suggested that intellectual inhomogeneity had a negative relationship with self-esteem among intellectually gifted youth. The main result of the thesis is the evidence for an association in intellectually gifted children between the inhomogeneity of the intellectual profile and certain psychopathological and mental health variables in clinical and school settings. Additional studies are however needed in odrer to better the significance of intellectual giftedness in children and its potentially associated psychological vulnerabilities.