Application of the dual-factor model of mental health among Chinese new generation of migrant workers

Background Traditional models of mental health focus on psychopathological symptoms. In contrast, the dual-factor model of mental health integrates positive mental health and psychopathology into a mental health continuum, which is an adaptation and complement to the traditional mental health research paradigm. The new generation of migrant workers is an important part of current Chinese society. Their identity has created a sense of loneliness, rootlessness, and alienation. This paper validates the applicability of the dual-factor model of mental health among new generation migrant workers in China. Methods In this study, 600 new generation migrant workers were recruited and tested on the symptom checklist 90, satisfaction with life scale, perceived stress scale, employee engagement inventory. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA were performed, the differences between the unidimensional model and dual-factor model were also tested. Results The results showed that the dual-factor model of the mental health approach had better construct validity than the unidimensional model. And four subgroups could be significantly discriminated by the dual-factor model: mentally healthy (58.45%), vulnerable (30.87%), symptomatic but content (3.11%), and troubled (7.57%). Compared to the other three groups, workers who were mentally healthy showed higher perceived work values and lower perceived work stress. Conclusions The study suggests that a dual-factor model of mental health can be applied to new generation migrant workers in China, with positive mental health and psychopathology being important predictors of mental health.

Assessing Music Expertise

We introduce the Berlin Gehoerbildung Scale (BGS), a multidimensional assessment of music expertise in amateur musicians and music professionals. The BGS is informed by music theory and uses a variety of testing methods in the ear-training tradition, with items covering four different dimensions of music expertise: (1) intervals and scales, (2) dictation, (3) chords and cadences, and (4) complex listening. We validated the test in a sample of amateur musicians, aspiring professional musicians, and students attending a highly competitive music conservatory (n = 59). Using structural equation modeling, we compared two factor models: a unidimensional model postulating a single factor of music expertise; and a hierarchical model, according to which four first-order subscale factors load on a second-order factor of general music expertise. The hierarchical model showed better fit to the data than the unidimensional model, indicating that the four subscales capture reliable variance above and beyond the general factor of music expertise. There were reliable group differences on both the second-order general factor and the four subscales, with music students outperforming aspiring professionals and amateur musicians. We conclude that the BGS is an adequate measurement instrument for assessing individual differences in music expertise, especially at high levels of expertise.

Factor Structure, Reliability and Validity of the Institutional Culture Assessment Scale (ICAS)

Introduction: Work environment can affect the employees, fostering well-being versus emotional burden. The aim of this study was to develop the Institutional Culture Assessment Scale (ICAS), and evaluate its Factor Structure, Reliability and Validity in a Brazilian sample of medical students and physicians in different settings and phases of the medical career. Method: 2537 individuals were evaluated by an online questionnaire. The sample was split in half for independent testing of Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. We then used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test the best solutions in the second half of the sample. Then, considering a unidimensional model solution, an item response theory (IRT) analysis was conducted. Simple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate associations between ICAS factor scores and internal validators (burnout scores), using again the second half of the sample. Result: Parallel analysis revealed two factors. The first factor encompassed items involving the institution and supervisors. The second factor encompassed items involving peers. We decided to performed the next analysis with a unidimensional construct based solely on institution/supervisor items. A unidimensional model including the remaining seven items from the ICAS instrument revealed an excellent fit with the data. All items loaded significantly on the unidimensional latent trait with factor loadings ranging from 0.583 to 0.869. McDonalds Omega was 0.89, showing a high internal consistency. Conclusion: This study presents a valid and reliable scale to assess aspects of institutional culture connected to the relationships with superiors/supervisors and to the relation to the institutions themselves.

Short Form of the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-L9) in the US, Germany, and Russia

Validation of a 9-item version of the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-L9) and testing its cross-national measurement invariance and latent mean differences in representative samples from the United States of America (US), Germany, and Russia. The psychometric properties of the SOC-L9 were tested with representative samples aged 18–100 years from the US ( N = 2,972), Germany ( N = 2,005), and Russia ( N = 2,726). Both a model with a general factor and method effect of items with negative wording and a unidimensional model were tested for structure validity. Measurement equivalence and latent mean comparisons were conducted across the samples. The SOC-L9 showed good reliability and validity in all countries. Rather than the unidimensional model, the model with additional method effect showed excellent fit across countries. Cross-national measurement invariance testing found partial strong measurement invariance across the three samples. The latent means of the SOC-L9 in the US sample were higher than those in German and Russian samples. The SOC-L9 has proved to be economic, valid, reliable, and cross-nationally applicable in the US, Germany, and Russia. Meaningful differences across countries were found, suggesting the importance of taking cultural background into account in SOC-related research.

Factorial structure of the Beck Depression Inventory for depression in university students

ABSTRACT Objective To explore the dimensionality of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) among Colombian college students. Methods A validation study was designed, involving the participation of a sample of 786 health science students (medicine, nursing, and psychology) aged between 18 and 27 (M=20.0, SD = 1.9). The participants completed the 21-item BDI. Internal consistency was calculated (Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega) and dimensionality was demonstrated using factorial confirmatory analysis (CFA). Results The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was high (0.898) and the Bartlett's sphericity test gave excellent results (chi-square = 3,102.60; df = 210; p < 0.001). One-, two- and three-dimensional models were used. The unidimensional model performed best, representing 24.8% of the total variance, high internal consistency, a Cronbach's alpha of 0.83 and a McDonald's omega of 0.84. However, the CFA did not fit adequately (chi-square = 583.79; df = 189; p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.052, CI 90% 0.047-0.056, CFI = 0.87, TLI = 0.85 and SMSR = 0.04). Conclusions The best factor solution for the BDI is given by the unidimensional model, which presents high internal consistency. However, its adjustment in the CFA is not acceptable.

Conceptualization and validation of organizational commitment

We reviewed the key measurement and conceptualization problems of the Allen and Meyer's (1990) three-component model (TCM) of organizational commitment (OC), and established an unequivocal grounding of the OC concept which Korean workers perceive. To that end, we examined internal structures of OC construct and validated it in the context of workers in Korean domestic banks. Overall two studies were conducted with data collected from a sample of 519 full time workers of seven domestic banks in Korea. While affective (AC) and continuance commitment (CC) were measured using scales of the TCM as customized, normative commitment (NC) was measured using the six-item scale (Jaros, 2007) according to the researcher's hypotheses on conceptualization of OC. In study 1, measures of the 290 respondents were analyzed using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). There were two phases scrutinizing factor structures of the OC scales. First, ESEM was conducted on the items of OC scale, and on the items measuring other constructs (assumed to be similar to OC or antecedents of OC). The result revealed that, contrary to our expectation, a unidimensional model of AC consisting of 10 items as indicators including six items of the AC construct and four items of the NC construct, fit the data best. In study 2, measures of the rest 229 respondents were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm the model developed in study 1. The result revealed that the unidimensional model of AC fit the data better than the other two-factor (AC, NC) and three-factor(AC, NC, CC) models. We concluded that the construct of OC for Korean bank workers, especially domestic bank officers can best be understood as a singular construct of affective dimension which is newly conceptualized and validated through the current study. Such a result was interpreted in light of the organizational cultural value orientations in Korean domestic banks. Implications for OC theory and its application were discussed concerning the present results.