Filling Gaps in the Nomological Networks for Dominance and Affiliation by Examining Self-Informant Agreement on Momentary Interpersonal Behavior

Interpersonal functioning involves an interplay of subjective perceptions and overt behavior. This study examines agreement between self and informant reports of behavior measured naturalistically to investigate the associations between observable behavior, self-perceptions, and others’ perceptions and to enrich the nomological networks for the domains of dominance and affiliation. We studied a sample of romantic couples (N=193) who rated their own and their partner’s interpersonal behavior during a 21-day ambulatory assessment (AA) protocol. We used a multitrait-multimethod-multirater correlation matrix including self- and informant-reported averages and variability of dominance and affiliation measured by AA and cross-sectional self-reports of dominance, affiliation, and interpersonal distress. There was no self-informant agreement on dominance measured by AA, but there was moderate agreement on affiliation averages and variability. Only AA self-reports of average dominance and affiliation, not informant reports, converged with analogous cross-sectional self-reports. Both self and informant reports of dominance and affiliation variability correlated with self-reported interpersonal distress. Results suggest that the internal versus external experiences of dominance and affiliation differ and that these differences have important implications in everyday interpersonal functioning. Our findings also show that self-perceptions of variability in dominance and affiliation, others’ perceptions of variability, and actual behavioral variability relate to interpersonal problems.

Psychometric properties of the Brief Problem Monitor (BPM) in children with internalizing symptoms: examining baseline data from a national randomized controlled intervention study

Background Prevention is essential to reduce the development of symptomology among children and adolescents into disorders, thereby improving public health and reducing costs. Therefore, easily administered screening and early assessment methods with good reliability and validity are necessary to effectively identify children’s functioning and how these develop. The Brief Problem Monitor (BPM) is an instrument designed for this purpose. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the BPM parent (BPM-P) and teacher (BPM-T) versions, including internal reliability and construct validity at assessing children with internalizing problems. Methods Baseline data were collected from a national randomized controlled intervention study. Children aged 8–12 years with self-reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depression with one standard deviation above a chosen population’s mean were included in this study. Teachers (n = 750) and parents (n = 596) rated children using the BPM-T and BPM-P, respectively. Internal consistency was measured using Cronbach’s alpha, and multi-informant agreement between the BPM-P and BPM-T was measured using Spearman’s correlations. Construct validity was assessed via confirmatory factor analysis. Results Internal consistency was good throughout all domains for both the BPM-P and BPM-T, with a Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .763 to .878. Multi-informant agreement between the parents and the teacher was moderate on the externalizing, attention, and total scales and low on the internalizing scale. The model fit for the three-factor structure of the BPM was excellent for the BPM-P and good for the BPM-T. Conclusions Internal consistency was good, and the original three-factor solution of the BPM-P and BPM-T was confirmed based on our sample of school children at-risk for emotional problems. These promising results indicate that the BPM may be a valid short assessment tool for measuring attentional, behavioral, and internalizing problems in children. Trial registration in Clinical Trials: NCT02340637; June 12, 2014.

Medicinal Plants Used by Tai Lao Healers in Roi Et Thailand

Background: Local knowledge of herbal medicine in rural communities is rich. This part of cultures plays an important role in societies where knowledge of indigenous medicine and folk healing has been passed down from generation to generation. Most of the knowledge was never written down and much such knowledge has disappeared over time when it was presented orally and through memorization. The objective of this study was to compile knowledge related to medicinal plants used by Tai Lao traditional healers in Roi et province and identify their explicit use in order to preserve the useful wisdom for the people. Methodology: In this study we identify and document medicinal plants and associated ethnobotanical knowledge held by 14 traditional Tai Lao healers. They were selected by snowball and purposive sampling and questioned using semi-structured interviews. Interviews about their knowledge, covered their training, the ailments they treated, the techniques they used, their methods of preparation and, in addition, several healing sessions were observed. During walks in the fields, we searched for the medicinal plant with help from the healers to review and document their availability at each locality and in different habitats around the villages. Use Values (UV) were calculated to estimate the importance of each medicinal plant and Informant Agreement Ratios (IAR) were calculated to understand how widely known the uses were among the healers. Results: We found 146 species of medicinal plants in 127 genera and 60 plant families that were used for medicinal purposes by the 14 traditional healers interviewed. The family with most medicinal plants was Fabaceae (12 spp., 8%) followed by Poaceae (9 spp., 6%) and Zigiberaceae (8 spp., 5%). The most important and widely used medicinal plants were the sedge Cyperus rotundus (UV=0.71) followed by the dicot tree Salacia dongnaiensis (UV=0.64) and the palm Borassus flabellifer (UV=0.42). The most common preparation method was decoction, which was done for 99 species (68%) followed by grinding with water to produce a drink for 29 species (20%). The 14 healers together used medicinal plants to treat 53 specific conditions. Itching had the highest informant agreement ratio (IAR) value among the specific conditions with 0.33 (4 use-reports, 3 spp.). The general category of digestive system disorders had an informant agreement ratio (IAR) value of 0.35 (57 use-reports, 37 spp.) and this category of treatments also had the highest degree of consensus. The most common life form among the medicinal plants was trees (56 spp., 38%), followed by herbs (41 spp., 28%). The medicinal plants were mostly collected in homegardens (60 spp., 41%). The most commonly used plant parts for medicine was the stem which was used for almost half of the species (69 spp., 48%), followed by the roots (54 spp., 37%). The age of the Tai Lao healers varied from 26–87 years. All of them were male. Their age and educations were not correlated with the number of known medicinal plants. The highest number of known medicinal plants was held by a 70 years old healer (55 spp.). Conclusion: Considering the richness of the healers’ pharmacopeia, and the fact that their profession is not being perpetuated, this study points to the urgent need to document the traditional knowledge from the old herbalists before it disappears with the last practitioners in the rural communities.

Psychometric Properties of Nepali Translated Version of Preschool Anxiety Scale (Parent) Among Preschool Children in Nepal

Background The Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) is a 28- item measure designed to assess anxiety symptoms in pre-schoolers aged 3 to 6 years. The aim of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the Nepali translated version of the Preschool Anxiety Scale -Parent version, together with evidence on the reliability and cross-informant agreement among parents. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to collect data from 680 mothers among seven conveniently selected private schools in Kathmandu. Results Age groups and gender differences across PAS scales were found statistically significant in mother’s reports. Exploratory factor analyses results suggest that the items of the PAS- Nepalese version do not reflect the five categories in anxiety in a clear way. This is particularly in separation anxiety, social phobia, and obsessive-compulsion. In confirmatory factor analysis, 28 items showed a poor fit of the five-factor original model for the data. However, removing three items (25 item version) through the five-factor model indicated a better fit. Internal consistency measured by Cronbach’s alpha for the PAS-Parent version scale was of good range (0.87). Cronbach’s alpha of the subscales: generalized anxiety (0.63), social phobia (0.67), physical injury fears (0.75), and Separation anxiety (0.63) were in fair range; while it was in poor range for the Obsessive-Compulsive subscale (0.567). Cross informant agreement on the ratings of anxiety symptoms of children by the fathers and mothers was low, as reflected by a weak positive correlation. Conclusion Nepalese version of the PAS demonstrated fair psychometric properties, supporting its utility in screening and assessing a broad range of anxiety symptoms in Nepalese pre-schoolers.

Would the Real Loneliness Please Stand Up? The Validity of Loneliness Measures and the Reliability of Single Items

Several measures that assess loneliness have been developed for adults. Across three studies, we investigated psychometric features of different versions of the Rasch-Type Loneliness Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and three single-item measures. In Study 1 (N = 697 self-ratings, N = 282 informant-ratings of 163 targets) and Study 2 (N = 1,216 individuals from 608 couples), we investigated the convergent validity and self-informant agreement of the included measures. Furthermore, we compared the nomological nets of these measures using correlates related to demographic aspects, personality, satisfaction, and network characteristics. In Study 3 (N = 411), we estimated a reliability of $r_{xx} > .70$ for three single-item measures of loneliness in a short-term prospective study. Overall, all measures and their nomological nets were highly correlated within and across studies, indicating that the included measures are all reliable and valid. Recommendations for choosing a loneliness measure are discussed.

The Application of the Adult Self-Report and the Adult Behavior Checklist Form to Chinese Adults: Syndrome Structure, Inter-Informant Agreement, and Cultural Comparison

Given the global public health burden of mental illness, there is a critical need for culturally validated psychopathology assessment tools that perform well in diverse societies. This study examines the psychometric properties of the Adult Self-Report (ASR) and Adult Behavioral Checklist (ABCL) from the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessments in adults in China. Chinese adults (N = 1276) and their spouses completed the ASR and ABCL, respectively. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis on 99 ASR items and 93 ABCL items. Estimators of model fit confirmed that both measures demonstrated excellent fit (e.g., root mean square error of approximation = 0.016 and 0.018, respectively). Syndrome loadings on both measures were satisfactory but generally higher on the ASR. Neither gender nor education had significant effects, but there were informant x gender effects on most problem scales. Cross-informant agreement correlations between the ASR and ABCL were medium to large. Findings from this novel sample of Chinese adults are consistent with previous validation studies supporting the dimensionality, syndrome structure, gender differences, and inter-informant agreement of the ASR and ABCL. Our findings contribute to the cross-cultural understanding of mental health assessment and offer a psychometrically sound approach to measuring adult psychopathology in Chinese populations.

Development and evaluation of a new measure of children’s play: the Children’s Play Scale (CPS)

Background There is increasing recognition of the importance of children’s play from a public health perspective, given the links between play and children’s physical and mental health. The present research aimed to develop and evaluate a new parent-report questionnaire that measures the time children spend playing across a range of places and includes a supplement to evaluate how adventurously children play. Methods The questionnaire was developed with input from a diverse group of parents and experts in children’s play. It was designed to yield a range of metrics including time spent playing per year, time spent playing outside, time spent playing in nature and level of adventurous play. The reliability of the questionnaire was then evaluated with 245 parents (149 mothers, 96 fathers) of 154 children aged 5–11 years. All participants completed the measure at time 1. At time 2, an average of 20 days later, 184 parents (111 mothers and 73 fathers) of 99 children completed the measure again. Results Cross-informant agreement, evaluated using Concordance Correlation Coefficients (CCCs), ranged from 0.36 to 0.51. These fall in the poor to moderate range and are largely comparable to cross-informant agreement on other measures. Test-retest reliability for mothers was good (range 0.67–0.76) for time spent playing metrics. For fathers, test-retest reliability was lower (range 0.39–0.63). For both parents the average level of adventurous play variable had relatively poor test retest reliability (mothers = 0.49, fathers = 0.42). This variable also showed a significant increase from time 1 to time 2. This instability over time may be due to the timing of the research in relation to the Covid-19 lockdown and associated shifts in risk perception. Conclusions The measure will be of value in future research focusing on the public health benefits and correlates of children’s play as well as researchers interested in children’s outdoor play and play in nature specifically. The development of the measure in collaboration with parents and experts in children’s play is a significant strength. It will be of value for future research to further validate the measure against play diaries or activity monitors.

The Convergence of Self and Informant Reports in a Large Online Sample

Despite their added benefits, informant-reports are largely underutilized in personality research. We demonstrate the feasibility of collecting informant-reports online, where researchers have unprecedented access to large, global populations. Using an entirely free, opt-in procedure tied to an existing personality survey, we collected 1,554 informant-reports for 921 unique targets, in conjunction with over 158,000 self-reports. Informant-reports showed a strong correspondence to self-reported traits at three levels of analysis: among the Big Five domains, the lower-level SPI-27 factors (Condon, 2018), and at the item-scale level. Among the Big Five, self-informant agreement ranged between .63 and .72, except for Openness (.42). Higher informant-ratings of Extraversion were positively associated with all Big Five self-ratings in the direction of social desirability. Across the Big Five and the 27 lower-order traits, agreement was strongest between self-reports of compassion and informant-reports of agreeableness (.74) and weakest between self-reported emotional expressiveness and informant-reported emotional stability (.02). Agreement between informants was roughly equivalent for all of the Big Five traits (.29 to .35) and attractiveness (.37), though agreement between informants for perceived intelligence was non-significant. In addition, we empirically identified the self-report items that best predict what informants say about targets, highlighting the features of self-reported personality that are most readily confirmed by informants. Finally, we discuss group level differences of participants who interacted with the informant-report system at various levels. In general, participants who sought and provided informant reports are more open and agreeable than the general sample, though targets’ personality did not affect whether or not invited informants provided ratings.