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The effects of demographic factors, family background, and early job achievement on age at marriage.

National data for ever-married men age 20 to 65 in March 1973 are utilized to estimate least squares and log-linear structural equation models of age at marriage. We demonstrate that most characteristics of family background (including both the family structure and its socioeconomic standing) are irrelevant in their effect on age at marriage. Intercohort trends are not explicable with reference to the changing socioeconomic, ethnic, or nativity compositions of the cohorts. Regional differences in age at marriage have persisted over the years in only slightly diminished form and cannot be explained by reference to the nativity, ethnic, or socioeconomic compositions of the regions. Early job status relates only weakly to age at marriage. Only those activities that are time-consuming or otherwise disruptive of the smooth operation of normal life-cycle processes during the transition from adolescence to adulthood (such as college attendance and service in the military) seriously affect the age at which a man marries.

Achievement↗

A structural model of the relationships among stage of disease, age, coping, and psychological adjustment in women with breast cancer.

The present study used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships among disease stage (i.e. Stage II versus Stage IV), age, coping style, and psychological adjustment in 100 women diagnosed with breast cancer. Five separate models were examined: a full model, a mediational model, a demographic-disease model, a coping style model, and a regression model The analyses revealed that the present data best fit the mediational model in which age and stage of disease were not directly associated with psychological adjustment but, instead, were mediated by coping style (chi 2(25) = 45.776, AASR = 0.05, CFI = 0.94). The mediational model accounted for 56% of the variance in psychological adjustment. In particular, the model showed that younger women and women with an earlier disease stage used greater levels of the coping strategy characterized as a fighting spirit and lower levels of the coping strategies characterized as hopelessness/helplessness, anxious preoccupation, and fatalism which, in turn, were related to better psychological adjustment. Overall, these findings may offer an explanation for the conflicting findings regarding the relationship between age, stage of disease, and psychological adjustment to breast cancer by illustrating that coping strategies may be an essential mediating factor; in turn, a mediating model of psychological adaptation may offer useful information for clinicians as they implement interventions designed to improve patients coping efforts.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

[Examining the causal model of depression: the relation between depressogenic schemata and depression].

This study examines the causal relation between depressogenic schemata and depression. Three structural equation models were tested two times among 149 students during five months: (1) one-way causal relation from depressogenic schemata to depression, (2) one-way causal relation from depression to depressogenic schemata, (3) reciprocal relation between depressogenic schemata and depression. Results showed the third model is the most adequate among three models. It is possible that depressogenic schemata influences depression and depression also has some effects on depressogenic schemata. As a result of reviewing previous studies, it is thought that there is a continuity is between clinical and non-clinical groups. Therefore, the findings of this study is useful in understanding the clinical image of depression.

Adolescent↗

[The ranking model which estimates the factor scores of residual variables].

In this research, a new directions for utilizing the residual variable score in structural equation modeling was proposed. The residual variable score is created by removing the influence of the comprehensive index, which is strongly related to brand cognition from each trait factor. By using it as a new index, we tried to detect low cognition and high evaluation Brands which are not ranked high in the comprehensive index. It was shown that the ranking by the residual variable score on the same trait has very high correlation between years and same trait, and low correlation with the comprehensive index. Thus, the discriminant validity and stability of the new index were identified. Concerning the interpretation of the new index, it became clear that the brand which shows an increasing trend with the new index has the uniformly low degree of cognition as compared with the descending brand. It indicates that the new index has the capability of detecting brands with low cognition and high evaluation Brand.

Cognition↗

Medical students' motivation for internal medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To verify that motivational concepts tested in other educational settings are relevant to understanding medical students' choice of a career in internal medicine. More specifically, to compare the effects of "facilitating students' interest" versus "controlling students' learning" as educational models during the internal medicine clerkship. DESIGN: An observational retrospective study of 89 fourth-year medical students. Structural equation modeling compared the two models statistically. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Student choice of internal medicine residency. RESULTS: Instructors who supported students' autonomy engendered in students greater feelings of competence and interest in internal medicine than did controlling instructors. Perceived competence further enhanced students' interest in internal medicine. In turn, interest predicted students' choosing an internal medicine residency. Overall, the facilitating students' interest model better explained students' choice of internal medicine than did the controlling students' learning model. CONCLUSIONS: The results verify that the nature of the learning climate during the internal medicine clerkship is an important predictor of students' subsequent pursuit of internal medicine training. Instructors who teach in an autonomy-supportive manner enhance students' perceived competence and interest in internal medicine, which increases the likelihood they will select an internal medicine residency.

Career Choice↗

Genetic influences on childhood hyperactivity: contrast effects imply parental rating bias, not sibling interaction.

BACKGROUND: Previous twin studies of hyperactivity have supported a 'contrast effect', whereby the more hyperactive the rating of one twin, the less the rating of the other. It has not been clear whether contrast effects occur in the twins' behaviour or in the ratings made of their behaviour but the implications for hyperactivity are different under the two models. METHOD: We use hyperactivity ratings from mothers and teachers for 1644 twin pairs in the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development (VTSABD) to explore the origin of contrast effects, making use of independent teacher reports in a proportion of twins. Models were fitted separately for the two informants and jointly to ratings combined through a latent variable, using structural equation modelling. RESULTS: Models for maternal data confirm the contrast effect previously reported. Teacher ratings show a different form of bias, with both twin confusion and correlated errors representing alternative but not mutually exclusive explanations of the data. Latent variable modelling of the joint responses allowed comparison of a model in which the contrast effect was placed on maternal ratings, representing bias, versus one in which the contrast occurred in the underlying 'true' phenotype. The fit of the former model was significantly better. CONCLUSIONS: Support is provided for the notion of contrast effects as a form of rater bias in maternal hyperactivity ratings. Different bias in teacher reports highlight that no one report can be considered a gold standard. The extent to which such biases may distort information for other data sources such as sib-pair studies of concordance/discordance is discussed.

Adolescent↗

The role of personality, coping style and social support in health-related quality of life in HIV infection.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the role of health status, personality and coping style, on self-report health-related quality of life (QoL). METHODS: Participants were HIV seropositive individuals at all disease stages from three samples (a) gay/bisexual men from the UK, (b) injecting drug users from the UK, (c) injecting drug users from Italy. All participants completed questionnaires evaluating QoL, personality, coping style and social support. Explicit models of the relationships between the measured variables based on a review of the literature were tested using structural equation modelling. RESULTS: Health status was modestly associated with the physical but not the psychological aspects of QoL (beta = 0.44). Neuroticism was strongly associated with psychological QoL (beta = -0.73) but only weakly with physical QoL (beta = -0.21). The samples did not differ in either the pattern or the magnitude of these relationships. Mediating factors such as coping style, social support and other personality variables had only a weak influence on the role of Neuroticism. CONCLUSIONS: Neuroticism had a strong influence on health-related QoL that was independent of health status. Neuroticism was more strongly associated with the psychological aspects of QoL than health status. Coping styles and the other psychological variables assessed had only a weak mediating influence on this relationship.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Psychosocial stress, lifestyle and periodontal health.

BACKGROUND, AIMS: The hypothesis that psychosocial stress and lifestyle are related to periodontal status was tested. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was performed in 1997-98 in 10 areas in Lithuania (response rate 53%). Information comprised recordings of oral hygiene, calculated levels of remaining periodontal support and information about psychosocial and lifestyle factors. A hypothetical structure was tested in 2 age and gender subgroups by means of a structural equation model both for an overall fit and for the fit of individual parameters within the model. RESULTS: The hypothesised structure presented high confirmatory fit index values (CFI) in all subgroup models, i.e., CFI >0.94. However the probability value of 0.01 found in the older males model presented an unlikely event. When individual parameters within the models were tested, different misspecifications were found. Therefore the hypothesised structure needed to be revised and tested repeatedly. All revised models presented high CFI and probability values (p>0.35). The testing of individual parameters did not reveal any significantly misspecified parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The path between lifestyle and levels of remaining periodontal support was empirically supported in the present study. Although the pathway between psychosocial stress and remaining periodontal support was not empirically supported, there is reason to believe that such link is likely.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Rater bias in the EASI temperament scales: a twin study.

Under trait theory, ratings may be modeled as a function of the temperament of the child and the bias of the rater. Two linear structural equation models are described, one for mutual self- and partner ratings, and one for multiple ratings of related individuals. Application of the first model to EASI temperament data collected from spouses rating each other shows moderate agreement between raters and little rating bias. Spouse pairs agree moderately when rating their twin children, but there is significantly rater bias, with greater bias for monozygotic than for dizygotic twins. MLE's of heritability are approximately .5 for all temperament scales with no common environmental variance. Results are discussed with reference to trait validity, the person-situation debate, halo effects, and stereotyping. Questionnaire development using ratings on family members permits increased rater agreement and reduced rater bias.

Adult↗

Incorporating social anxiety into a model of college problem drinking: replication and extension.

Although research has found an association between social anxiety and alcohol use in noncollege samples, results have been mixed for college samples. College students face many novel social situations in which they may drink to reduce social anxiety. In the current study, the authors tested a model of college problem drinking, incorporating social anxiety and related psychosocial variables among 228 undergraduate volunteers. According to structural equation modeling (SEM) results, social anxiety was unrelated to alcohol use and was negatively related to drinking consequences. Perceived drinking norms mediated the social anxiety-alcohol use relation and was the variable most strongly associated with problem drinking. College students appear to be unique with respect to drinking and social anxiety. Although the notion of social anxiety alone as a risk factor for problem drinking was unsupported, additional research is necessary to determine whether there is a subset of socially anxious students who have high drinking norms and are in need of intervention.

Adult↗

Finances and well-being: a dynamic equilibrium model of resources.

This study of 513 Dutch farmers tested a dynamic equilibrium model of resources (an extension of the conservation of resources theory; S. E. Hobfoll, 1989, 1998, 2001). With structural equation modeling, the advantages of a 3-wave longitudinal design were comprehensively used, such as addressing bidirectional causal effects and within-individual vs. between-individual change. This allowed for a careful analysis of the management function of resources in the stress process. Results showed that well-being had stronger within-person stability than finances. Increased levels of financial problems temporarily increased psychological distress but not self-reported illness. Conversely, farmers with higher stable baselines of psychological distress also had higher baselines of self-reported illness and experienced more negative changes in their financial situation.

Adult↗

Self-reported physical health among aged adults.

A multiple indicator structural equation model is proposed to delineate the various aspects of self-reported physical health. In particular, it specifies structural linkages among five measures of health including chronic illness, number of sick days, physical self-maintenance, instrumental activities of daily living, and subjective rating of one's own health. The proposed model is evaluated by using data from the 1968 National Senior Citizens Survey. The results support the predictions derived from the proposed model and are consistently replicated across four randomly divided subsamples.

Aged↗

Coping efficacy and psychological problems of children of divorce.

Three models of the relations of coping efficacy, coping, and psychological problems of children of divorce were investigated. A structural equation model using cross-sectional data of 356 nine- to twelve-year-old children of divorce yielded results that supported coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between both active coping and avoiding coping and psychological problems. In a prospective longitudinal model with a subsample of 162 of these children, support was found for Time 2 coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between Time 1 active coping and Time 2 internalizing of problems. Individual growth curve models over four waves also found support for coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between active coping and psychological problems. No support was found for alternative models of coping as a mediator of the relations between efficacy and symptoms or for coping efficacy as a moderator of the relations between coping and symptoms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

A measurement model for the Type A Self-Rating Inventory.

Compared to other questionnaire measures of Type A behavior, the Type A Self-Rating Inventory (TASRI) possesses particularly strong face validity. This study sought to develop a formal measurement model for the TASRI using a sample of 352 male and 479 female undergraduate psychology students. Assessed via structural equation modeling, an oblique two-factor (Hard-Driving, Extroverted) model explained over 90% of the common variance in responses to a subset of 13 of the original 28 TASRI items for men, women, and the pooled data. As hypothesized, relative to women, men had a greater mean score on the Hard-Driving factor and a lower mean score on the Extroverted factor. However, the magnitude of these gender differences is small. When reconceptualized in the context of work on the Big Five factor model, the Hard-Driving and Extroverted factors were found to reflect related elements of positive sociability and negative power, respectively.

Adolescent↗

Quality-of-life assessment in comparative therapeutic trials and causal structure considerations in peripheral occlusive arterial disease.

When considering the use of quality of life as a primary end-point in phase III to IV comparative trials, the trial designer generally faces some unresolved questions. These include: How does one explain that some dimensions [quality-of-life (QOL) instruments usually have more than 1 dimension] are directly influenced by the studied treatments whereas others are not? How can one interpret conflicting results between conventional clinical measurements and QOL measurements, when the relationships between conventional clinical measurement and quality of life are not known? In this paper, we consider the use of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) as a methodological alternative to answer these problems. As an example, we analyse the internal causal structure of the Claudication Scale (CLAU-S), a specific QOL 5-dimensional instrument for peripheral occlusive arterial disease. In applying SEM to different studies and different types of calculation, we suggest that CLAU-S is based on a stable, simple and comprehensive QOL model, is compatible with the general International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH) classification, is coherent and complementary with clinical data measurements and, using differences in a prospective study, considerably improves specificity. We suggest that SEM can help in QOL scale validation, in providing a unified scheme of the inter-relationships between internal dimensions and with external variables, in particular, clinical measurements.

Arterial Occlusive Diseases↗

The course of PTSD symptoms among Gulf War veterans: a growth mixture modeling approach.

Relatively little is known about the course of PTSD symptoms over time following trauma exposure. Accordingly, this study utilized a specialized structural equation modeling approach, growth mixture modeling, to examine the trajectory of PTSD symptoms across three time points in a sample of Gulf War veterans (n at Time 1 = 2,949, n at Time 2 = 2,313, and n at Time 3 = 1,327). Results were most consistent with a two-group model suggesting that the course of PTSD symptoms following the Gulf War was best characterized by two distinct growth curves: (1) low levels of PTSD symptoms with little increase over time and (2) higher levels of initial symptoms with a significant increase over time. Thus, it appears that response to Gulf War experiences is not homogeneous, and that a subset of individuals may experience relatively more PTSD symptoms over time. In addition, men, Whites, those reporting more education, and those reporting less combat exposure had a significantly higher probability of being classified into the less symptomatic group.

Adult↗

A factor analytic study of the loneliness and social dissatisfaction scale in a sample of African-American and Hispanic-American children.

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale (LSDS) in a sample of African-American and Hispanic-American children. Participants were a non-clinical sample ( N = 186) of children ages 11 to 13 in the fifth and sixth grades in a school in the Metropolitan New York area. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-factor model fits the sample data better than a one-factor model. Internal consistencies were acceptable across the two factors, and convergent validity of the LSDS was supported by a moderately positive relation with a self-report measure of depressive symptomatology. In a structural equation model, ethnicity, grade, and gender predicted little variance in each LSDS factor, suggesting little measure bias. These preliminary findings suggest that the LSDS is a psychometrically sound instrument for African-American and Hispanic-American children, yet future inspection of its factor structure in more diverse samples of children is warranted.

Adolescent↗

Empowerment and staff nurse decision involvement in nursing work environments: testing Kanter's theory of structural power in organizations.

Work redesign initiatives have transformed approaches to patient care that will require increased control of nurses over both the content and context of their practice. A secondary analysis of two studies linking perceived work empowerment with two aspects of staff nurse decisional involvement using Kanter's (1977, 1993) theory of structural power in organizations is described. In these studies, the pattern of relationships among variables in Kanter's theory and two different facets of work decisional involvement (control over the content and context of nursing practice) were examined using structural equation modeling techniques. Consistent with theoretical expectations, perceptions of formal and informal power significantly influenced perceived access to work empowerment structures. Informal power was found to mediate the relationship between formal power and access to work empowerment structures. Formal and informal power and access to empowerment structures, in combination, were found to be significant predictors of the extent of involvement in decisions related to the content and context of nursing practice, respectively. The results provide empirical support for propositions derived from Kanter's theory of work empowerment, and provide potential guidance for theory-based management practices to enhance nurses' involvement in professional and organizational decision making.

Adult↗