Background. A 10-question screening scale of psychological distress and a six-question short-form scale embedded within the 10-question scale were developed for the redesigned US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Methods. Initial pilot questions were administered in a US national mail survey (N fl 1401). A reduced set of questions was subsequently administered in a US national telephone survey (N fl 1574). The 10-question and six-question scales, which we refer to as the K10 and K6, were constructed from the reduced set of questions based on Item Response Theory models. The scales were subsequently validated in a two-stage clinical reappraisal survey (N fl 1000 telephone screening interviews in the first stage followed by N fl 153 face-to-face clinical interviews in the second stage that oversampled first-stage respondents who screened positive for emotional problems) in a local convenience sample. The second-stage sample was administered the screening scales along with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). The K6 was subsequently included in the 1997 (N fl 36116) and 1998 (N fl 32440) US National Health Interview Survey, while the K10 was included in the 1997 (N fl 10641) Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. Results. Both the K10 and K6 have good precision in the 90th‐99th percentile range of the population distribution (standard errors of standardized scores in the range 0‐20‐0‐25) as well as consistent psychometric properties across major sociodemographic subsamples. The scales strongly discriminate between community cases and non-cases of DSM-IV}SCID disorders, with areas under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve of 0‐87‐0‐88 for disorders having Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores of 0‐70 and 0‐95‐0‐96 for disorders having GAF scores of 0‐50. Conclusions. The brevity, strong psychometric properties, and ability to discriminate DSM-IV cases from non-cases make the K10 and K6 attractive for use in general-purpose health surveys. The scales are already being used in annual government health surveys in the US and Canada as well as in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. Routine inclusion of either the K10 or K6 in clinical studies would create an important, and heretofore missing, crosswalk between community and clinical epidemiology.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/F141675CCD0E08C0FB98E01C006B4E0D/S0033291702006074a.pdf/div-class-title-short-screening-scales-to-monitor-population-prevalences-and-trends-in-non-specific-psychological-distress-div.pdf

Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress.

A primary goal of scale development is to create a valid measure of an underlying construct. We discuss theoretical principles, practical issues, and pragmatic decisions to help developers maximize the construct validity of scales and subscales. First, it is essential to begin with a clear conceptualization of the target construct. Moreover, the content of the initial item pool should be overinclusive and item wording needs careful attention. Next, the item pool should be tested, along with variables that assess closely related constructs, on a heterogeneous sample representing the entire range of the target population. Finally, in selecting scale items, the goal is unidimensionality rather than internal consistency ; this means that virtually all interitem correlations should be moderate in magnitude. Factor analysis can play a crucial role in ensuring the unidimensionality and discriminant validity of scales.

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Constructing validity: Basic issues in objective scale development

Contents: Preface. Part I: R. Barr, Society and Literacy. S.B. Heath, The Sense of Being Literate: Historical and Cross-Cultural Features. P. Foster, A. Purves, Literacy and Society with Particular Reference to the Non-Western World. R.L. Venezky, The Development of Literacy in the Industrialized Nations of the West. J.T. Guthrie, V. Greaney, Literacy Acts. R-M. Weber, Linguistic Diversity and Reading in American Society. J.S. Chall, J.R. Squire, The Publishing Industry and Textbooks. P. Shannon, Politics, Policy, and Reading Research. Part II: M.L. Kamil, Task and Format Variables in Reading Research. A. Graesser, J.M. Golding, D.L. Long, Narrative Representation and Comprehension. S. Bovair, D.E. Kieras, Toward a Model of Acquiring Procedures from Text. C.A. Weaver, III, W. Kintsch, Expository Text. R.J. Tierney, T. Shanahan, Research on the Reading-Writing Relationship: Interactions, Transactions, and Outcomes. R. Calfee, E. Hiebert, Classroom Assessment of Reading. D. Reinking, L. Bridwell-Bowles, Computers in Reading and Writing. R. Waller, Typography and Discourse. Part III: P.B. Mosenthal, Constructs of Reader Process. L.C. Ehri, Development of the Ability to Read Words. K.E. Stanovich, Word Recognition: Changing Perspectives. R. Beach, S. Hynds, Research on Response to Literature. T.P. McNamara, D.L. Miller, J.D. Bransford, Mental Models and Reading Comprehension. M. Daneman, Individual Differences in Reading Skills. K.K. Wixson, M.Y. Lipson, Perspectives on Reading Disability Research. F.R. Vellutino, M.B. Denckla, Cognitive and Neuropsychological Foundations of Word Identification in Poor and Normally Developing Readers. S.G. Paris, B.A. Wasik, J.C. Turner, The Development of Strategic Readers. M. Hegarty, P.A. Carpenter, M.A. Just, Diagrams in the Comprehension of Scientific Texts. L. Mikulecky, R. Drew, Basic Literacy Skills in the Workplace. R.C. Anderson, W.E. Nagy, Word Meanings. Part IV: P.D. Pearson, Literacy and Schooling. E. Sulzby, W. Teale, Emergent Literacy. C. Juel, Beginning Reading. I. Beck, M. McKeown, Conditions of Vocabulary Acquisition. P.D. Pearson, L. Fielding, Comprehension Instruction. L.R. Roehler, G.G. Duffy, Teachers' Instructional Actions. R. Barr, R. Dreeben, Grouping Students for Reading Instruction. J.V. Hoffman, Teacher and School Effects in Learning to Read. D.E. Alvermann, D.W. Moore, Secondary School Reading. P. Johnston, R. Allington, Remediation. Epilogue: P.B. Mosenthal, M.L. Kamil, Understanding Progress in Reading Research.

Handbook of Reading Research

Self-report measures of adult attachment are typically scored in ways (e.g., averaging or summing items) that can lead to erroneous inferences about important theoretical issues, such as the degree of continuity in attachment security and the differential stability of insecure attachment patterns. To determine whether existing attachment scales suffer from scaling problems, the authors conducted an item response theory (IRT) analysis of 4 commonly used self-report inventories: Experiences in Close Relationships scales (K. A. Brennan, C. L. Clark, & P. R. Shaver, 1998), Adult Attachment Scales (N. L. Collins & S. J. Read, 1990), Relationship Styles Questionnaire (D. W. Griffin & K. Bartholomew, 1994) and J. Simpson's (1990) attachment scales. Data from 1,085 individuals were analyzed using F. Samejima's (1969) graded response model. The authors' findings indicate that commonly used attachment scales can be improved in a number of important ways. Accordingly, the authors show how IRT techniques can be used to develop new attachment scales with desirable psychometric properties.

An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment.

This book gives an up-to-date overview of methodological and data-analytical issues of cross-cultural studies. Written by leading experts in the field, it presents the most important tools for doing cross-cultural research and outlines design considerations, methods, and analytical techniques that can improve ecological validity and help researchers to avoid pitfalls in cross-cultural psychology. By focusing on the relevant research questions that can be tackled with particular methods, it provides practical guidance on how to translate conceptual questions into decisions on study design and statistical techniques. Featuring examples from cognitive and educational assessment, personality, health, and intercultural communication and management, and illustrating key techniques in feature boxes, this concise and accessible guide is essential reading for researchers, graduate students, and professionals who work with culture-comparative data.

Methods and Data Analysis for Cross-Cultural Research

Fundamentals of Item Response Theory.

A logistic regression model for characterizing differential item functioning (DIF) between two groups is presented. A distinction is drawn between uniform and nonuniform DIF in terms of the parameters of the model. A statistic for testing the hypothesis of no DIF is developed. Through simulation studies, it is shown that the logistic regression procedure is more powerful than the Mantel-Haenszel procedure for detecting nonuniform DIF and as powerful in detecting uniform DIF.

Detecting Differential Item Functioning Using Logistic Regression Procedures

The Mantel-Haenszel (MH) procedure is sensitive to only one type of differential item functioning (DIF) It is not designed to detect DIF that has a non uniform effect across trait levels By gener

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A comparison of logistic regression and Mantel-Haenszel procedures for detecting differential item functioning

The purpose of this study was to compare the IRT-based area method and the Mantel-Haenszel method for investigating differential item functioning (DIF), to determine the degree of agreement between the methods in identifying potentially biased items, and, when the two methods led to different results, to identify possible reasons for the discrepancies. Data for the study were the item responses of Anglo American and Native American students who took the 1982 New Mexico High School Proficiency Exam. Two samples of 1,000 students from each group were studied. The major findings were that (a) the consistency of classifications of items into "biased" and "not-biased" categories across replications was 75% to 80% for both methods and (b) when the unreliability of the statistics was taken into account, the two methods led to very similar results. Discrepancies between methods were due to the presence of nonuniform DIF (the Mantel-Haenszel method could not identify these items) and the choice of interval over wh...

Detecting potentially biased test items : Comparison of IRT area and Mantel-Haenszel methods

A simulation study was conducted to evaluate the dependability of Stout's T index of unidimensionality as used in his DIMTEST procedure. DIMTEST was found to dependably provide indications of unidi...

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H. Jane Rogers

Papers

Fundamentals of Item Response Theory.

Detecting Differential Item Functioning Using Logistic Regression Procedures

A comparison of logistic regression and Mantel-Haenszel procedures for detecting differential item functioning

Detecting potentially biased test items : Comparison of IRT area and Mantel-Haenszel methods

An Assessment of Stout's Index of Essential Unidimensionality: