Measurement invariance testing for the United States identity scale (USIS) across non-hispanic black and white college students

To understand the relevance of the fear of fatness construct across culture and gender, we translated the Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale (GFFS) and examined its psychometric properties in English and Spanish languages in a sample of Euro-American male (n = 111) and female (n = 100), and Spanish male (n = 114) and female (n = 544) college students in the United States and Spain. Confirmatory and exploratory analyses tested the measurement equivalence of the instrument across samples by gender and culture. Eight of the 10 items appeared to demonstrate measurement invariance. Mean comparisons on the eight-item version suggested that there was a gender by country interaction, with Euro-American women scoring substantially higher than the three other groups. Overall, these results highlight the need for additional examinations of cross-cultural instrument invariance and explorations of the fear of fatness construct.

Download Full-text

Examination of Cultural and Gender Similarities and Differences among Canadian and U.S. College Students on a Measure of Manifest Anxiety

Higher Education Studies ◽

10.5539/hes.v8n3p94 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 94

Author(s):

Patricia A. Lowe

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

College Students ◽

Gender Differences ◽

Measurement Invariance ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Student Population ◽

Anxiety Scale ◽

And Gender ◽

Manifest Anxiety

A measurement invariance study was conducted among 1,344 college students from Canada and the United States on an anxiety measure specifically designed for the college student population to determine whether the construct of anxiety was equivalent across country (Canada, United States) and gender. In addition, country and gender differences were examined on the anxiety measure. The Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-College Version (AMAS-C) was administered to the college students online. The AMAS-C consists of four anxiety (Physiological Anxiety, Social Concerns/Stress, Test Anxiety, and Worry/Oversensitivity) subscales, a Total Anxiety scale, and a Lie scale. Results of tests of measurement invariance found the construct of anxiety equivalent across country and gender and latent mean analyses found gender differences, but no country differences, on the AMAS-C anxiety factors. Implications of the findings for mental health professionals, educational practitioners, and current and future researchers who work with or who will work with the undergraduate student population in Canada are discussed.

Download Full-text

Black and white composite magnetic anomaly map of the United States; Part A, Conterminous United States

10.3133/gp960a ◽

1983 ◽

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Magnetic Anomaly ◽

The United States ◽

Black And White ◽

Anomaly Map

Download Full-text

An Assessment of the Cues College Students Interpret From a Sexual Partner to Determine They Are Refusing

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260521997930 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052199793

Author(s):

Tiffany L. Marcantonio ◽

Danny Valdez ◽

Kristen N. Jozkowski

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

College Students ◽

Sexual Partner ◽

Online Survey ◽

The United States ◽

Sexual Partners ◽

Sexual Scripts ◽

Nonverbal Cues ◽

Sexual Experiences ◽

Verbal Cues

The purpose of this study was to assess the cues college students use to determine a sexual partner is refusing vaginal-penile sex (i.e., refusal interpretations). As a secondary aim, we explored the influence of item wording ( not willing/non-consent vs refusal) on college students’ self-reported refusal interpretations. A sample of 175 college students from Canada and the United States completed an open-ended online survey where they were randomly assigned to one of two wording conditions ( not willing/non-consent vs refusal); students were then prompted to write about the cues they used to interpret their partner was refusing. An inductive coding procedure was used to analyze open-ended data. Themes included explicit and implicit verbal and nonverbal cues. The refusal condition elicited more explicit and implicit nonverbal cues than the not willing/non-consent condition. Frequency results suggested men reported interpreting more explicit and implicit verbal cues. Women reported interpreting more implicit nonverbal cues from their partner. Our findings reflect prior research and appear in line with traditional gender and sexual scripts. We recommend researchers consider using the word refusal when assessing the cues students interpret from their sexual partners as this wording choice may reflect college students’ sexual experiences more accurately.

Download Full-text

Measurement Invariance of the Sexual Assault Script Scale (SASS): An Examination Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White College Women

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520985491 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052098549

Author(s):

Elizabeth A. Yeater ◽

Kristen N. Vitek ◽

Ryan S. Ross ◽

Meredith Blackwell ◽

Katie Witkiewitz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Assault ◽

College Women ◽

Measurement Invariance ◽

Sexual Victimization ◽

Factor Model ◽

The United States ◽

Bisexual Women ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Hispanic White ◽

White College

Rates of sexual victimization have remained steady over several decades, and preventative interventions to reduce men’s sexually aggressive behavior have been largely ineffective. As such, research has endeavored to find novel approaches to identify women at increased risk for sexual victimization. Sexual assault scripts, or “cognitive models” that women adhere to that guide their beliefs about sexual assault are posited to influence their victimization risk. Prior studies on sexual assault scripts primarily have been qualitative in nature; however, recent work yielded a 27-item measure of putative risk for sexual victimization called the Sexual Assault Script Scale (SASS). The SASS has four subscales called Stereotypical Assault Scripts, Acquaintance Assault Scripts, Assault Resistance Scripts, and Date/Friend Assault Scripts, which were found in prior work to be internally consistent and associated with putative risk factors for sexual victimization. The focus of the current study was to test the measurement invariance of the SASS among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White college women who were recruited in the prior study. Four hundred sixty-nine ( N = 469) Hispanic and 415 non-Hispanic White US undergraduate heterosexual or bisexual women from a Southwestern university in the United States completed the SASS. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) replicated the prior four-factor model with an acceptable fit to the data, and tests of measurement invariance revealed the SASS to be invariant across Hispanic and non-Hispanic White college women, suggesting that the SASS is measuring a similar construct in these groups.

Download Full-text

How Universal Is a Construct of Loneliness? Measurement Invariance of the UCLA Loneliness Scale in Indonesia, Germany, and the United States

Assessment ◽

10.1177/10731911211034564 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107319112110345

Author(s):

Joevarian Hudiyana ◽

Tania M. Lincoln ◽

Steffi Hartanto ◽

Muhammad A. Shadiqi ◽

Mirra N. Milla ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Measurement Invariance ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Total Sample ◽

The United States ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Model Fit ◽

Short Version ◽

Loneliness Scale ◽

The One

The UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-20) and its short version (ULS-8) are widely used to measure loneliness. However, the question remains whether or not previous studies using the scale to measure loneliness are measuring the construct equally across countries. The present study examined the measurement invariance (MI) of both scales in Germany, Indonesia, and the United States ( N = 2350). The one-, two-, and three-factor structure of the ULS-20 did not meet the model fit cut-off criteria in the total sample. The ULS-8 met the model fit cut-off criteria and has configural, but not metric invariance because two items unrelated to social isolation were not MI. The final six items (ULS-6) exclusively related to social isolation had complete MI. Participants from the United States scored highest in the ULS-6, followed by participants from Germany and then Indonesia. We conclude that the ULS-6 is an appropriate measure for cross-cultural studies on loneliness.

Download Full-text

Does School Climate Mean the Same Thing in the United States as in Mexico? A Focus on Measurement Invariance

Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment ◽

10.1177/0734282917731459 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 55-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Kathan D. Shukla ◽

Tracy E. Waasdorp ◽

Sarah Lindstrom Johnson ◽

Mercedes Gabriela Orozco Solis ◽

Amanda J. Nguyen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

School Climate ◽

Measurement Invariance ◽

School Environment ◽

Climate Model ◽

The United States ◽

School Students ◽

Scale Scores ◽

Partial Invariance ◽

The U.S

School climate is an important construct for guiding violence prevention efforts in U.S. schools, but there has been less consideration of this concept in its neighboring country Mexico, which has a higher prevalence of violence. The U.S. Department of Education outlined a three-domain conceptualization of school climate (i.e., safe and supportive schools model) that includes engagement, safety, and the school environment. To examine the applicability of this school climate model in Mexico, the present study tested its measurement invariance across middle school students in the United States ( n = 15,099) and Mexico ( n = 2,211). Findings supported full invariance for engagement and modified-safety scales indicating that factor loadings and intercepts contributed almost equally to factor means, and scale scores were comparable across groups. Partial invariance was found for the environment scales. Results of a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) consisting of all 13 school climate scales indicated significantly positive associations among all scales in the U.S. sample and among most scales in the Mexico sample. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Download Full-text