ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The Home and Community Social Behavior Scales (HCSBS) is a rating scale that assesses social competence and antisocial behavior among children and youths between ages 5-18. The present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the HCSBS by applying item response theory (IRT). METHODS: The HCSBS was completed by parents of 551 Norwegian children refereed to three independent interventions towards problem behaviors. Data used in this study was collected before the interventions started. IRT was carried out in R version 4.0.0 to investigate HCSBS items, subscales and main scales. RESULTS: The results showed that the two-dimensional IRT models for social competence and antisocial behavior were the most appropriate. The measurement precision of the scales was high for a large range of the latent spectrum, and estimated reliabilities were satisfactory. Model evaluations indicated that the overall model fit for the scales were acceptable, but some misfit existed with respect to specific item pairs. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the HCSBS is a reliable measurement instrument although there is still a potential for improvement by revising some of the items.
Subject(s)
Problem Behavior , Social Skills , Adolescent , Humans , Child , Child, Preschool , Antisocial Personality Disorder , Social Behavior , Psychometrics/methods , Surveys and Questionnaires , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study applies three latent interaction models in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1988, Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press; Ajzen, 1991, Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process., 50, 179) to quitting smoking: (1) attitude × perceived behavioural control on intention; (2) subjective norms (SN) × attitude on intention; and (3) perceived behavioural control × intention on quitting behaviour. METHODS: The data derive from a longitudinal Internet survey of 939 smokers aged 15-74 over a period of 4 months. Latent interaction effects were estimated using the double-mean-centred unconstrained approach (Lin et al., 2010, Struct. Equ. Modeling, 17, 374) in LISREL. RESULTS: Attitude × SN and attitude × perceived behavioural control both showed a significant interaction effect on intention. No significant interaction effect was found for perceived behavioural control × intention on quitting. CONCLUSIONS: The latent interaction approach is a useful method for investigating specific conditions between TPB components in the context of quitting behaviour. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.
Subject(s)
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Intention , Smoking Cessation/psychology , Smoking/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Middle Aged , Models, Statistical , Psychological Theory , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
This paper examines cognitive antecedents of non-smoking among adolescents who reported smoking less than 1-2 times a week, and reported non-smoking intentions and willingness, in the framework of the Prototype/Willingness model. Two waves of data were obtained from a nation-wide sample of 760 Norwegian adolescents who responded to a school-based survey on smoking. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the predictive power of the social reaction pathway (prototype and willingness) of the P/W model, and in addition, the constructs from the Theory of Reasoned Action (subjective norm, attitude and intention). Results demonstrated the unique importance of the social reaction path when examining smoking behaviour among non-smoking adolescents. Implications of the findings and possible applications are discussed.
