<p>The power of positive attitudes toward science is that they influence science achievement by reinforcing higher performance. Interestingly, there continue to be gender disparities in attitudes toward science across many countries. Males generally have more positive attitudes toward science than females. Although most research related to attitudes toward science have been based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Student Questionnaire, there remains a dearth of evidence validating the TIMSS science attitudes items and measurement equivalence across genders. </p><p>The goals of this research were as follows: (1) to build support for the structural validity of the TIMSS items, and (2) to investigate whether the instrument measures the same latent construct (attitudes toward science) across genders. The present study followed two steps of statistical analyses. As a first step, two modeling methods (confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling) were conducted to identify the best-fitting model for the instrument. Second, after determining the model of choice, we tested several nested invariance models progressively. </p><p>This study found (1) the latent factor structure of the TIMSS items and (2) strong measurement invariance across genders. This result indicated that the instrument is well designed by the <i>a priori</i>specification and measures the same latent variable for both female and male students. This study provides support for the multidimensional approach to measuring science attitudes and shows the flexibility of ESEM over CFA by demonstrating that the ESEM approach provided better representation of the underlying factor structure. </p>

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Industrial Psychology) / Organizations exist for the primary aim of meeting particular objectives: innovation and advancement, customer satisfaction, profit making and delivery of quality goods and services. These goals are mostly channelled with the intent of demonstrating high performance crucial for the continued existence of the organization especially in these rapidly changing global economies. This target, however, cannot be achieved without the aid of employees in the organization. A plethora of previous studies have proven that efficiency, productivity, high performance and stability on the job can be better achieved when the employees are dedicated, committed to their work roles and experience work engagement. The experience of work engagement on the part of the employees is not a random event; it depends on a myriad of factors that include authentic leadership. Leaders have a cumulative change effect on their followers; hence, leaders in an organization can be termed as core drivers of employee engagement. Hence, it becomes imperative to seek to understand what authentic leadership as a construct has to offer to the workplace.

Methamphetamine is the most common amphetamine used and, along with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy), is considered part of a worldwide drug epidemic. Monitoring metham-phetamine levels in the body is important for purposes of drug screening for employment, criminal investigations, and therapeutic drug monitoring. While methamphetamine is suitable for detection using immunoassay techniques, these methods tend to have significant cross reactivity with other compounds. Over the last decade, more than eighty different quantitative, confirmatory analytical methods for measuring methamphetamine in biological samples have been published in the scientific literature. Analytical instrumentation used in these methods includes gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), capillary electrophoresis (CE), among others. These assays are capable of quantifying methamphetamine concentrations in a variety of biological matrices, including blood, plasma, urine, hair, and fingernails. Some of these techniques can achieve detection as low as 0.1 ng/mL (1 ppb) concentra-tions. The strengths and limitations of these methodologies will be discussed in the context of methamphetamine analysis. Additionally, methods that can simultaneously measure methamphetamine levels as well as metabolites and other drugs of abuse will be highlighted.

Callous – unemotional (CU) traits are a key factor in understanding the persistence and severity of conduct problems. The factor structure of CU traits has been primarily examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in childhood and adolescent samples, yet little research has examined the structure of CU traits in preschool. Further, current CFA models have yielded poor – to – marginally acceptable fit, suggesting the need for a more nuanced approach in understanding the structure of CU traits in early childhood using an interitem approach (i.e., network analysis). Within a sample of 109 preschool children (M age = 4.77, SD = 1.10), CFA results supported a two – factor structure of the ICU, comprised of “callous” and “uncaring” factors. Results of the network analysis identified seems cold and uncaring as most central to the CU network. Results from the CFA demonstrated that CU traits can be assessed in preschool children using 12 of the original 24 items from the ICU, which is consistent with a small portion of research. Further, results of the network analysis suggested that seems cold and uncaring may be useful in screening for psychopathic traits in preschool children. Clinical implications, including ICU measure refinement, are explored.

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is a framework of statistical methods that allows us to represent complex relationships between variables. SEM is widely used in economics, genetics and the behavioral sciences (e.g. psychology, psychobiology, sociology and medicine). Model complexity is defined as a model’s ability to fit different data patterns and it plays an important role in model selection when applying SEM. As in linear regression, the number of free model parameters is typically used in traditional SEM model fit indices as a measure of the model complexity. However, only using number of free model parameters to indicate SEM model complexity is crude since other contributing factors, such as the type of constraint or functional form are ignored. To solve this problem, a special technique, Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis (CTA) is examined. A tetrad refers to the difference in the products of certain covariances (or correlations) among four random variables. A structural equation model often implies that some tetrads should be zero. These model implied zero tetrads are called vanishing tetrads. In CTA, the goodness of fit can be determined by testing the null hypothesis that the model implied vanishing tetrads are equal to zero. CTA can be helpful to improve model selection because different functional forms may affect the model implied vanishing tetrad number (t), and models not nested according to the traditional likelihood ratio test may be nested in terms of tetrads. In this dissertation, an R package was created to perform CTA, a two-step method was developed to determine SEM model complexity using simulated data, and it is demonstrated how the number of vanishing tetrads can be helpful to indicate SEM model complexity in some situations.

This study translated, cross-culturally adapted and validated an instrument's scores for use in public high schools in San Salvador, El Salvador. The original instrument consisted of items developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge and five dimensions of attitudes (Abstinence, Peer-pressure, Condom use, Drug use, and Threat of HIV) in grades 7 to 12 in the United States. Items were translated into Spanish using the back-translation method. The instrument was cross-culturally adapted using guidelines proposed by Guillemin, Bombardier, and Beaton (1993). A cross-culturally equivalent version of the original instrument was obtained using three different Salvadorian review panels and two pretests with Salvadorian high school students. An expert panel of HIV Salvadorian professionals validated the content and established its cultural acceptability for public school use. A total of 483 students from 30 randomly selected public high schools in El Salvador participated in a series of validation studies. Confirmatory factor analysis of the translated instrument was used to evaluate the factorial validity of the five-factor attitudinal model. As part of the validation process, the translated Abstinence and Condom use subscales from the CDC were correlated with similar translated subscales from Basen-Engquist et al.'s (1999) published study as a measure of concurrent validity. Finally, internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was determined with 483 students and test-retest reliability was obtained with a subsample of 39 students. Six major conclusions were: (1) The methodology used was successful in cross-culturally adapting the instrument. (2) HIV/AIDS content was rated as culturally acceptable and valid for use in public high schools of El Salvador. (3) The reliability of the scores from the knowledge section was moderate (test-retest reliability coefficient = .49 and coefficient alpha = .57). (4) Reliability (coefficient alpha) of the five attitudinal subscales was inconsistent: .55 (Peer-pressure), .58 (Abstinence), 0 (Condom use), .24 (Drugs), and .30 (Threat of HIV). (5) Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a 4-factor attitudinal model (Peer-pressure, Abstinence, Drug use, and Threat of HIV). (6) Concurrent validity of the translated CDC Abstinence subscale was strong. The results provided support for the methodology to cross-culturally adapt an instrument. The psychometric properties from the knowledge section and the attitudinal component related to abstinence were acceptable but additional research is needed before the Spanish instrument can be used with confidence in El Salvador.

This mixed methods case study examined the effect of reduced fear of negative evaluation and self focus on behaviors related to shyness in a church environment. A sample of 239 members, regular attenders, and visitors completed a survey, consisting of the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation-Straightforward (BFNE-S) Scale; two checklists measuring perceived acceptance and levels of comfort in situations known to be difficult for shy people; and extended response questions regarding thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in six church situations. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the BFNE-S (General and Context-specific) had acceptable fit compared with previous studies, and descriptive statistics were similar to those of previous studies. Lower self-reported levels of fear of negative evaluation and higher levels of perceived comfort, but not acceptance, in the church setting were found to be statistically significant, although the effect size was negligible. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed no statistically significant difference for gender or race for individuals in the church setting compared to the non church setting. A multiple regression failed to reveal a statistically significant relationship between depth and breadth of involvement in church activities and reduced fear of negative evaluation. The Clark-Wells (1995) model of social phobia explained 62% of self-reported behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of individuals with high levels of shyness when in social situations in the church setting. A statistically significant difference was found between focus of attention and quality of thought scores for individuals with minimal to low levels of shyness and high levels of shyness. To explore further the validity of scores obtained with the BFNE-S, it would be useful to conduct a study in different environments and seek to understand individuals in those environments with high and low fear of negative evaluation. Future research regarding the church setting should utilize a sample with fewer long-term members and regular attenders. Additionally, future studies could probe how religious beliefs help people cope with difficult situations, in particular shyness.

The purpose of this research is to build city competitiveness evaluating models through structural equation model(SEM) by using data of 5 cities and 14 counties of Taiwan. According to literature review, the research choses three dimensions for city competitiveness: economic, living environment and education. Belongs to three dimensions, there are 18 indexes to evaluate city competitiveness. By using five steps Confirmatory factor analysis(CFA), the explained variance of three dimensions are more than 50%, which economic model is 58%, living environment model is 61% and education model is 62%. Although fitness indexes of two order confirmatory factor analysis are under 0.9, but composite reliability(CR) 0.9486 is more than 0.7, and average variance extracted(AVE) 0.6307 is more than 0.5, these mean the model of research is representative to some extent. Finally, the research offered some suggestions for future researchers.

This study responds to the globally increasing rate of caesarean section, and specifically to the very high rate of elective caesarean section among Taiwanese mothers as evidence suggests that such elective caesareans pose potential health risks for mothers and babies. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a multi-component instrument based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to better understand Taiwanese pregnant women's decisions regarding their childbirth delivery options (spontaneous vaginal delivery or elective caesarean section). The study was a four-phased mixed method design. First, the TPB guided item development and instrument drafting. Second, pretesting and instrument refinement used cognitive interviewing with a small sample of Taiwanese pregnant women. Third, the instrument was administered to 310 such women to examine psychometric properties of the component scales. Fourth, the phase 3 instrument was re-administered to 30 women to estimate item stability. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used to assess construct validity of the multi-item, multi-component measurement model with LISREL 9.1. Based on the TPB, the 52-item self-administered Childbirth Delivery Options Questionnaire (CDOQ) was developed to measure three components: intention regarding delivery options, attitudes toward delivery options, and perceptions of significant others' (partner, mother, and mother-in-law) feelings about delivery options. Respondents from phase two thought that the items on the CDOQ were easy to read and comprehend; they reported favorably on the wording and formatting. Preliminary item analysis revealed that the items referring to dangerousness of delivery options did not function as intended and were dropped because they did not differentiate between the two delivery options, leaving 36 items. Test-retest reliability indicated that responses to each item were positively correlated and those referring to spontaneous vaginal delivery were more stable than those referring to elective caesarean section. Corrected item-to-total correlations and expected change in Cronbach's alpha if item deleted revealed that four items might form a measure of general social norms associated with the Taiwanese culture. The Cronbach's alphas for the components of the CDOQ ranged from .55 to .89. The measurement model incorporating the design features of the CDOQ fitted the data well using the CFA. Because serious problems with multicollinearity and suppression were revealed, Beckstead's (2012) criterion-irrelevant-variance-omitted (CIVO) regression method was used to untangle the suppressor effects when predicting intention from the other components of the CDOQ. The results indicated that attitude and partner's feelings were significant and explained the bulk of the variance in intentions. The TPB-based instrument developed here will be of considerable use to maternal-child health researchers. The findings of this study suggest that decisions regarding delivery options may be modified by interventions geared toward pregnant women's attitudes within family- and cultural-centered prenatal programs.

Intelligence testing has had a relatively long and controversial history, beginning with what is generally considered the first formal measure of intelligence, the Binet-Simon Scales (1916). Questions regarding possible cultural bias in these measures arose virtually simultaneously (e.g. Burt, 1921; Stern, 1914). Over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, an abundance of intelligence measures have been developed, with many of them having several revisions, but the issue of test bias remains an important one, both in the professional literature and in the popular press (Reynolds & Lowe, 2009). A current intelligence measure in use, the Differential Ability Scales, Second Edition (DAS-II, Elliott, 2007), is a test with growing popularity for assessment of children and youth, not only for its ease of use, but also for its appeal to young children and its nonverbal composite (among other things). Consequently, it is essential that there be empirical evidence supporting the use of the DAS-II as an appropriate measure of cognitive abilities for children of varying backgrounds. The test publishers conducted extensive research with a representative sample during test development in an effort to ensure that the measure met adequate reliability and validity criteria; however, the issue of test bias, particularly regarding cultural or racial/ethnic groups, was not explicitly addressed. This issue was raised and examined with the original DAS by Keith, Quirk, Schartzer, and Elliott (1999), but with the significant changes made from the first edition to the second, there is no guaranty that the evidence from the earlier would necessarily apply to the latter. The current study investigated whether the DAS-II demonstrates systematic construct bias toward children and youth of any of four ethnic groups: Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis using data from the DAS-II standardization sample was used to assess whether criteria for increasingly strict levels of invariance were met across groups. Outcomes of this research contribute to an existing body of literature on test bias, as well as provide evidence regarding cross-group construct validity in the DAS-II. Ultimately the results of this study can be used to evaluate the appropriateness of the DAS-II for clinical use with certain ethnic groups and will help to emphasize further the importance of exploring these issues with all standardized tests. / text