The trait impulsivity theory suggests that a single, highly heritable externalizing liability factor, expressed as temperamental trait impulsivity, represents the core vulnerability for externalizing disorders. The present study sought to test the application of latent factor models derived from this theory to a clinical sample of children. Participants were 474 German children (age 6-12 years, 81% male) with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and externalizing behavior problem...
This study evaluates the psychometric properties (dimensionality, item bias, reliability) of the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R), provides scoring guidelines for the dimensional measure, and makes recommendations for future RRB measure development. Participants included individuals from three large autism data repositories; Simon Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK), Simons Simplex Collection (SSC), and National Database for Autism Research (NDAR). The total sample...
Accurate distinction between state and trait anxiety is necessary for assessment and monitoring of individual anxiety levels over time and developing effective interventions to reduce anxiety. Generalizability theory (G-theory) is a suitable method to distinguish between state and trait and to evaluate reliability of test scores and sources of measurement error in the assessment of affective conditions. We applied G-theory to the widely used 40-item State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) compl...
Self-efficacy is a commonly examined cognitive determinant of behavior change in weight-loss trials, but there has been little uniformity in its measurement. To address this, a recently developed survey captures self-efficacy as it relates to three behavioral domains of interest to weight-loss interventionists: physical activity (PA), healthful eating, and weight loss. The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Brief Weight-Loss-Related Behavior Self-Efficacy Scales...
This article describes the initial validation of the Diagnostic Assessment Research Tool (DART), a modular semistructured interview to facilitate diagnosis of various disorders among adults corresponding with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5). In this study, the construct, convergent, and discriminant validity of DART modules for anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance-relate...
Coaching individuals on test-taking strategies presents legal and ethical concerns and threatens the validity of psychological test score interpretations, which could lead to inaccuracies in clinical settings and injustices within the legal system. This meta-analysis examined the impact of coaching on the detection of symptom exaggeration or feigning on the MMPI-2. A total of 99 feigning studies (N = 19,536) comparing validity subscale scores between genuine and nongenuine (coached or non-coache...
It is often important to study people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors over time. To this end, researchers have relied on repeated cross-sectional (RCS) studies, in which different people from the same population participate on different measurement occasions. Also, researchers have relied on panel studies, in which the same group of people participate on different measurement occasions. However, few studies have directly tested whether participants' responses in RCS studies were similar to t...
A major goal in the development of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), and subsequently, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) was linking the instrument to contemporary models of psychopathology. The present study evaluated whether the higher order structure of MMPI-3 scales, and in particular, the 26 Specific Problems as well as RC6 and RC8 (markers of thought disorder) scales aligned with the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopath...
Research has rarely considered within-person variability in executive function. Using a web-based program, this study investigated end-of-day executive function for 2 weeks among 178 racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (Mage = 14.53). For each core component of executive function (cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, working memory), short-term practice effects were identified for the first 4 days of assessments, and no fatigue effects emerged for the remaining days. Another 5 days wer...
We evaluated competing measurement models for the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), one of the most widely used assessment instruments of psychopathy, which applies to clinical, forensic, and community samples. With four all-male community and forensic samples collected in Germany and the United States (nTotal = 853), we evaluated several measurement models of the PCL:SV, including correlated factor models, higher-order models, and bifactor models, on numerous psychometric crite...