Racial/ethnic measurement invariance of the School Success Profile (SSP)'s future orientation scale.

Future orientation (FO) has received increasing attention for its positive effects on adolescent well-being and successful transition to adulthood. Although numerous measures of FO exist, most are not developmentally appropriate for diverse populations of adolescents, do not assess all theoretical components of FO, and/or were not developed for administration in schools. Additionally, the invariance of existing measures across racial/ethnic groups has not been examined using appropriately rigorous procedures. Using data from 2575 students in grades 6-9, this study examined the psychometric quality and measurement invariance of the FO scale on the School Success Profile (SSP) across African American (34.8%), Latino (27.0%), and European American (38.1%) subsamples. A one-factor model fit the data well in all three groups. Analyses identified only a small number of noninvariant parameters, supporting the conclusion that the scale has partial measurement invariance across the three groups. On average, African Americans had significantly higher levels of FO than the other two groups; mean scores for Latinos and European Americans were lower and statistically equivalent to each other. Construct validity of the SSP FO scale was also supported by findings of medium-sized relationships of FO scores to scores on five other constructs: low grades, school engagement, parent educational support, psychological distress, and school behavior. Multiple group tests of the magnitude and direction of the validity relationships indicated statistical equivalence across the three groups. Results support the use of the SSP FO scale by school psychologists to assess FO and to evaluate the effects of interventions targeting FO as a promoter of well-being and school success.

Measuring dimensions of intergenerational contact: factor analysis of the Queen's University Scale.

OBJECTIVES: Intergenerational contact has been linked to a range of health outcomes, including greater engagement and lower depression. Measures of contact are limited. Informed by Allport's contact theory, the Queen's University Scale consists of items rating contact with elders. We administered the survey to a young adult sample (N = 606) to identify factors that may optimize intervention programming and enhance young persons' health as they age. METHODS: We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in the structural equation modeling framework and then confirmatory factor analysis with items pertaining to the general elder population. RESULTS: EFAs did not yield an adequate factor structure. We tested two alternative confirmatory models based on findings from the EFA. Neither a second-order model nor a first-order model allowing double loadings and correlated errors proved adequate. CONCLUSION: Difficulty finding an adequate factor solution reflects challenges to measuring intergenerational contact with this scale. Items reflect relevant topics but subscale models are limited in interpretability. Knox and colleagues' analyses led them to recommend a brief, global scale, but we did not find empirical support for such a measure. Next steps include development and testing of a reliable, valid scale measuring dimensions of contact as perceived by both youth and elders.

Rural neighborhoods and child aggression.

Structural equation modeling with latent variables was used to evaluate the direct and mediated effects of a neighborhood risk factor (negative teen behaviors) on the parent-report aggressive behavior of 213 students in grades 3 through 5 attending a school in a low-income, rural community. Contagion and social control hypotheses were examined as well as hypotheses about whether the neighborhood served as a microsystem or exosystem for rural pre-adolescents. Analyses took into account the clustering of students and ordinal nature of the data. Findings suggest that rural neighborhoods may operate as both a microsystem and exosystem for children, with direct contagion effects on their aggressive behaviors as well as indirect social control effects through parenting practices. Direct effects on aggression were also found for parenting practices and child reports of friends' negative behaviors. Pre-adolescence may be a transitional stage, when influences of the neighborhood on child behavior begin to compete with influences of caregivers. Findings can inform the timing and targets of violence prevention in rural communities.

Family-Faculty Trust As Measured with the ESSP.

The degree to which parents and teachers perceive they are working together in the best educational interests of children is a critical aspect of school culture. In previous work by Hoy, Tarter, and Woolfolk Hoy (2006), the phenomenon was named Faculty Trust and was measured with data from teachers. The current study builds upon Hoy et al.'s work by recommending that measures of Faculty Trust capture the important reciprocal nature of trust and cooperation between schools and families that is theoretically part of the original construct. Data collected from parents and teachers with the Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) were used to test a broadened construct called Family-Faculty Trust. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) with Mplus indicated that items and composites on the ESSP could be used to measure a multidimensional Family-Faculty Trust construct. Implications for how school social workers can improve this aspect of school culture when total or subscale scores are found to be low are discussed.

Low effect sizes of evidence-based programs in school settings.

School practitioners working from an evidence-based practice framework are expected to implement interventions that are effective with students. In the current study, the authors explore the feasibility of that expectation in light of the availability of critical effect size information necessary for making informed intervention decisions. Effect sizes for 51 school-based programs endorsed as effective by authoritative sources were reviewed. Effect size analyses reveal that the programs were not, on average, highly effective. Difficulties finding effect size information and programs with high effect sizes are discussed. Recent advances in evidence-based programs and suggestions for increasing the feasibility of evidence-based programs in schools are offered.

Child-Report Data and Assessment of the Social Environment in Schools.

OBJECTIVES: This study tested the quality of data collected with the online ESSP for Children from a diverse sample of 1,172 third through fifth graders. METHODS: Mplus confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) procedures for ordinal and clustered data were used. RESULTS: Of 80 original items, 61 loaded on 13 dimensions in a first-order model that had good fit in three random subsamples. Children in grades 3 through 5 may not be reliable reporters about neighborhood adults' caring. However, 12 statistically sound and independent dimensions related to school, peers, family, and well-being were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: The ESSP for Children provides school staff with quality data to use in conjunction with family and teacher ESSP data to guide intervention choices in schools.

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Home Environment and Home Social Behavior Data from the Elementary School Success Profile for Families.

The purpose of the current study was to test the factor structure and scale quality of data provided by caregivers about the home environment and child behavior at home using the Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) for Families. The ESSP for Families is one component of the ESSP, an online social-environmental assessment that also collects information from students and teachers. Confirmatory factor analyses with Mplus and weighted least squares means and variances adjusted estimation took into account the hierarchical nature and ordinal level of the data. The sample comprised caregivers of 692 third- through fifth-grade students from 13 elementary schools in four districts. A primary model and an alternative model were tested. Models were tested on a random calibration sample and validated with another sample. A nine-factor first-order solution demonstrated superior fit to the data. Scores from the nine scales also demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability. Implications for practice and further research are presented.

Evidence-based programs in school settings: barriers and recent advances.

In spite of multi-disciplinary calls for the use of evidence-based practice in schools, empirically supported interventions are not being implemented in most schools. To increase the use of evidence-based programs in schools, it may be necessary first to identify characteristics of those programs and other factors that represent barriers to their use. This study examined implementation requirements and the availability of program information of 51 school-based intervention programs. Analyses revealed implementation obstacles such as high start-up costs, challenging training and staffing requirements, and a lack of easily accessible information about programs. Research and practice implications of these findings are presented.

Cognitive Testing and the Validity of Child-Report Data from the Elementary School Success Profile.

The Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) is a social environmental assessment tool that collects data from 3(rd), 4(th), and 5(th) graders, their parents/guardians, and their teachers. Ensuring the validity of the data collected with the child report component was a primary concern during the development of the ESSP. This article describes how cognitive testing was used to promote the validity of ESSP child report data. Four types of response problems were identified in data collected from 58 children. Strategies to address problems are described, and evidence of the association between item modifications and improved performance is presented. Cognitive testing is recommended as a standard procedure in the development of child report instruments.

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL RISK AND PROTECTION: A TYPOLOGY WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

Social environmental assessments can play a critical role in prevention planning in schools. The purpose of this study was to describe the importance of conducting social environmental assessments, demonstrate that complex social environmental data can be simplified into a useful and valid typology, and illustrate how the typology can guide prevention planning in schools. Data collected from 532 3(rd) through 5(th) graders using the Elementary School Success Profile were analyzed in the study. A latent profile analysis based on eight child-report social environmental dimensions identified five patterns of social environmental risk and protection. The classes were labeled High Protection, Moderate Protection, Moderate Protection/Peer Risk, Little Protection/Family Risk, and No Protection//School Risk. Class membership was significantly associated with measures of well-being, social behavior and academic performance. The article illustrates how the typology can be used to guide decisions about who to target in school-based preventions, which features of the social environment to target, and how much change to seek. Information is provided about online resources for selecting prevention strategies once these decisions are made.

The Development and Evaluation of Procedures to Assess Child Self-report Item Validity.

Cognitive pretesting (CP) is an interview methodology for pretesting the validity of items during the development of self-report instruments. The present research evaluates a systematic approach to the analysis of CP data. Materials and procedures were developed to rate self-report item performance with CP interview text data. Five raters were trained in the application of that system. Estimates of inter-rater reliability found acceptable to substantial levels of inter-rater agreement. Results from the present study suggest that excellent inter-rater reliability can be achieved in the evaluation of CP data. Guidelines for systematically rating the qualitative data collected using CP methods are provided. Future research should focus on empirical demonstrations of how such rating procedures can lead to improvements in self-report instruments.

KNOWLEDGE GAPS AMONG SCHOOL STAFF AND THE ROLE OF HIGH QUALITY ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS IN SCHOOLS.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to examine the practice validity of a new ecological assessment instrument for 3(rd) through 5(th) graders in terms of whether it provided school staff with new knowledge about students. METHOD: Pre-assessment knowledge of school staff was compared to data obtained from 21 children and their parents on 29 measures. Data were collected using the Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP). School staff pre-assessment knowledge was compared to obtained data across seven domains of children's lives (neighborhood, school, family, peers, parent educational involvement, well-being, and home behavior), data sources (child and parent), and grade level of students. RESULTS: Pre-assessment knowledge was not highly correlated with obtained data; pre-assessment expectations matched obtained data only about 41% of the time; and knowledge varied by domain, source, and grade level. CONCLUSIONS: Ecological assessments can address gaps in school staff's knowledge of targetable factors that influence the success of students.

Cognitive Pretesting and the Developmental Validity of Child Self-Report Instruments: Theory and Applications.

OBJECTIVE: In the context of the importance of valid self-report measures to research and evidence-based practice in social work, an argument-based approach to validity is presented and the concept of developmental validity introduced. Cognitive development theories are applied to the self-report process of children and cognitive pretesting is reviewed as a methodology to advance the validity of self-report instruments for children. An application of cognitive pretesting is presented in the development of the Elementary School Success Profile. METHOD: Two phases of cognitive pretesting were completed to gather data about how children read, interpret and answer self-report items. RESULTS: Cognitive pretesting procedures identified validity problems with numerous items leading to modifications. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive pretesting framed by an argument-based approach to validity holds significant potential to improve the developmental validity of child self-report instruments.

How to Write a Research Article for the Journal of Genetic Counseling.

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance to contributors to the Journal of Genetic Counseling about preparing manuscripts that report findings of original research. While variations in reporting formats and standards are acknowledged, the paper aims to assist contributors in recognizing the essential components of research studies and of manuscripts describing such studies. A description of the purpose of each section and guidelines for writing each section are provided. Criteria for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of study design, sampling, measures, procedures, and data analyses are also discussed.

Risk and protective factors as predictors of outcome in adolescents with psychiatric disorder and aggression.

OBJECTIVE: To identify predictors of behavioral outcomes in high-risk adolescents with aggression and serious emotional disturbance (SED). METHOD: Three hundred thirty-seven adolescents from a statewide North Carolina treatment program for aggressive youths with SED were followed between July 1995 and June 1999 from program entry (T1) to approximately 1 year later (T2). Historical and current psychosocial risk and protective factors as well as psychiatric symptom severity at T1 were tested as predictors of high and low behavioral functioning at T2. Behavioral functioning was a composite based on the frequency of risk-taking, self-injurious, threatening, and assaultive behavior. RESULTS: Eleven risk and protective factors were predictive of T2 behavioral functioning, while none of the measured T1 psychiatric symptoms was predictive. A history of aggression and negative parent-child relationships in childhood was predictive of worse T2 behavior, as was lower IQ. Better T2 behavioral outcomes were predicted by a history of consistent parental employment and positive parent-child relations, higher levels of current family support, contact with prosocial peers, higher reading level, good problem-solving abilities, and superior interpersonal skills. CONCLUSIONS: Among high-risk adolescents with aggression and SED, psychiatric symptom severity may be a less important predictor of behavioral outcomes than certain risk and protective factors. Several factors predictive of good behavioral functioning represent feasible intervention targets.

When is it appropriate to focus on protection in interventions for adolescents?

Assertions about the appropriateness of targeting risk or protective factors in interventions for adolescents must be qualified in terms of the outcomes and populations examined in studies and in terms of how risk and protection are measured. The cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between protection and aggressive behavior found for 388 high-risk adolescents (81.7% male; 50.8% African American/other; average age, 14.5) with serious emotional disturbances in this study validated an intervention focus on protective factors.