Welcome to Psychological Assessment .org, an Interactive, Online Professional Community

PsychologicalAssessment.org is a resource for psychological testing professionals (both those in practice and still learning as students) to discuss test interpretation, construction and any other issues involved in psychological evaluations. It is not simply an online journal, but it is also not just another static collection of links or another basic mailing list or discussion forum. While it is important to protect test items and content and uphold APA ethics code standards and priciples, this can be done in the public setting (such as information available in a public library).

Using simple blogging software which allows users to create a community blog, anyone who can read and type on a keyboard can post messages, articles, or respond to "published" opinions in the blog through comments or posts of their own. Keep in mind there are multiple categories so you can read the most recent posts, but also click on the categories you may be interested in to read and comment on posts related to those topics (also choose relevant categories when you post). Feel free to add your link to your website or offer relevant link suggestions, print published article suggestions, book or book chapter suggestions, etc. Though the commenting feature isn't exactly peer review, please try to communicate politely and professionaly when possible- its not generally intended or expected that posts would replace a published journal article such as from the American Psychological Association's "Psychological Assessment," nor should you consider the discussions necessarily peer-reviewed or having cleared any peer review process other than submitting opinions, original "articles," questions, concerns and issues for public comment. Once submitted your blog posts become public domain and this site gives permission to distribute them freely as long as the original source is cited. No copyright material can be posted unless you're clearly the owner with permission to post it. Psychologist Dr. Todd Finnerty will moderate the posts if any get too far in to the crazy spam world, but otherwise please feel free to express yourself. Psychologists, Psychometricians, counselors and anyone else interested in psychologhical testing are welcome to join us.

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Psychological Assessment - Vol 21, Iss 4 Updated : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:35:09 EST Pathological gambling subtypes. Although pathological gambling (PG) is regarded in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) as a unitary diagnostic construct, it is likely composed of distinct subtypes. In the current report, the authors used cluster analyses of personality traits with a non-treatment-seeking community sample of gamblers and identified 3 PG subtypes. Gamblers partitioned into a simple PG cluster, characterized by low rates of comorbid psychopathology and trait scores near the normative mean; a hedonic PG cluster, characterized by moderate rates of comorbid psychopathology and a proclivity for excitement seeking and positive affect; and a demoralized PG cluster, characterized by high rates of comorbid psychopathology and a propensity toward negative affect, low positive emotionality, and disinhibition. The findings provide preliminary support for an empirically based typology of gamblers, distinguishable in terms of personality structure, which may reflect different etiologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in studies of substance use. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is particularly suitable for studying substance use, because use is episodic and thought to be related to mood and context. This article reviews EMA methods in substance use research, focusing on tobacco and alcohol use and relapse, where EMA has been most applied. Common EMA designs combine event-based reports of substance use with time-based assessments. Approaches to data organization and analysis have been very diverse, particularly regarding their treatment of time. Compliance with signaled assessments is often high. Compliance with recording of substance use appears good but is harder to validate. Treatment applications of EMA are emerging. EMA captures substance use patterns not measured by questionnaires or retrospective data and holds promise for substance use research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) Ecological momentary assessment of mood disorders and mood dysregulation. In this review, we discuss ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies on mood disorders and mood dysregulation, illustrating 6 major benefits of the EMA approach to clinical assessment: (a) Real-time assessments increase accuracy and minimize retrospective bias; (b) repeated assessments can reveal dynamic processes; (c) multimodal assessments can integrate psychological, physiological, and behavioral data; (d) setting- or context-specific relationships of symptoms or behaviors can be identified; (e) interactive feedback can be provided in real time; and (f) assessments in real-life situations enhance generalizability. In the context of mood disorders and mood dysregulation, we demonstrate that EMA can address specific research questions better than laboratory or questionnaire studies. However, before clinicians and researchers can fully realize these benefits, sets of standardized e-diary questionnaires and time sampling protocols must be developed that are reliable, valid, and sensitive to change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) Factorial invariance of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale across gender. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; G. B. Spanier, 1976) is the most widely used inventory of relationship satisfaction in the social sciences, yet the question of whether it is measuring the same concept in men and women has never been addressed. In the current study, the authors examined the factor structure of the DAS in a sample of 900 currently married couples who participated in the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to a second-order factor solution with Spanier’s four factors (Dyadic Consensus, Dyadic Satisfaction, Dyadic Cohesion, Affectional Expression) loading on one higher order factor (Relationship Adjustment), to test for measurement invariance across gender. The second-order solution was relatively invariant across gender, even when taking into account the nonindependent nature of the data. This suggests that the best conceptualization of the DAS is one of a gender-invariant measure of marital adjustment with four distinct subfactors and that differences between men and women on any of these constructs can be interpreted by both clinicians and researchers as true mean differences rather than measurement bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) A multitrait (ADHD–IN, ADHD–HI, ODD toward adults, academic and social competence) by multisource (mothers and fathers) evaluation of the invariance and convergent/discriminant validity of the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory with Thai adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis was used with a multitrait (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder—inattention, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder—hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder toward adults, academic competence, and social competence) by multisource (mothers and fathers) matrix to test the invariance and convergent/discriminant validity of the 5-factor model between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of Thai adolescents (Year 1: n = 872; Year 2: n = 903; Year 3: n = 700; Year 4: n = 984) with the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory (G. L. Burns, T. Taylor, & J. Rusby, 2001). The results showed equality of like-item loadings, intercepts, and residuals, as well as like-factor variances, covariances, and means between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings within each of the 4 yearly samples. In addition, the between-parent factor correlations showed convergent and discriminant validity with the within-parent factor correlations, showing discriminant validity for each year as well. These results for Thai adolescents and similar results (G. L. Burns et al., 2008) for mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of Brazilian, Thai, and American children provide broader support for the construct validity of the scale. The confirmatory factor analysis invariance and convergent/discriminant validity procedure with multiple sources is considered to provide a much more sophisticated procedure to evaluate the construct validity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder rating scales than a single-source approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) RSS feeds Increase Website Traffic

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