The effects of body-positive Instagram posts on body image in adult women.

While recent studies have examined the effects of viewing body-positive social media content on body appreciation and satisfaction in young adult women, research has yet to include older adult women. The current study assessed the effects of viewing body-positive Instagram content on body image in 205 adult women (18-76 years old) who were randomly assigned to view either body-positive, thin-ideal, or appearance-neutral Instagram content. Our findings demonstrated that exposure to body-positive Instagram content resulted in greater levels of body appreciation and body satisfaction compared to exposure to thin-ideal and neutral Instagram content, while no significant differences were found between any of the conditions on self-objectification. Finally, age was only a significant moderator for one variable (self objectification) and condition (thin ideal), indicating that exposure to body-positive social media content may improve levels of body appreciation and satisfaction in adult women, regardless of age.

The Development and Validation of the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale.

A series of studies was conducted to create the 22-item Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale on the basis of theoretical descriptions of intellectual humility, expert reviews, pilot studies, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The scale measures 4 distinct but intercorrelated aspects of intellectual humility, including independence of intellect and ego, openness to revising one's viewpoint, respect for others' viewpoints, and lack of intellectual overconfidence. Internal consistency and test-retest analyses provided reliable scale and subscale scores within numerous independent samples. Validation data were obtained from multiple, independent samples, supporting appropriate levels of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. The analyses suggest that the scale has utility as a self-report measure for future research.

Universal worth: construct and scale development.

Although research has demonstrated that narcissistic, contingent, and unsubstantiated forms of self-esteem correlate with undesirable behavior patterns, other researchers have searched for prosocial forms of belief in one's worth. Universal worth is proposed as the belief that (a) one is valued by a deity; (b) one's value is not contingent on success or failure; and (c) one is not valued by a deity more or less than others are valued. The Universal Worth Scale (UWS) was developed to measure this set of beliefs. Psychometric analyses showed that UWS scores were both internally consistent and temporally stable. Although scores on this scale were correlated with measures of constructs that were expected to be associated, the pattern of correlations suggests that UWS scores measure a distinct construct. Future research is suggested to explore universal worth in relation to sociometer theory and terror management theory, and within the continued search for prosocial foundations of self-worth.

What do the MMPI-2 restructured clinical scales reliably measure? Answers from multiple research settings.

The Restructured Clinical (RC; Tellegen et al., 2003) scales were developed to improve measurement of the core constructs of the MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001) Clinical scales by removing "demoralization," hypothesized to affect these scales adversely. Using 25 samples with MMPI-2 responses from 78,159 subjects across diverse clinical settings, we found that each RC scale was highly correlated with a Supplementary, Content, or Personality Psychopathology 5 (PSY-5; Harkness, McNulty, & Ben-Porath, 1995) scale: higher, in fact, than the correlation between the RC scale and its parent scale. Furthermore, for over half the RC scales (i.e., RC1, RC3, RC7, RC8, and RCd), the correlations were strong enough to conclude that the RC scales replicate MMPI-2 scales with rich empirical foundations; the remaining RC scales were not redundant. Next, we examined reliability estimates using alpha coefficients and interitem correlations and did not reveal superior reliability for most of the RC scales over existing MMPI-2 scales.

Using reliability generalization methods to explore measurement error: an illustration using the MMPI-2 PSY-5 scales.

Reliability generalization (RG) is a meta-analytic technique that allows for the systematic examination of variation in score reliability for different samples of test takers; this procedure is based on the recognition that reliability is not a stable property of a test but is sample dependent. As a demonstration of an RG analysis, I obtained 63 reliability coefficients for each of the MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001) Personality Psychopathology 5 (Harkness, McNulty, & Ben-Porath, 1995) scales. The overall variability of alpha coefficients supports the argument that reliability is sample dependent and underscores the need for researchers to calculate reliability estimates based on their research samples rather than simply citing published alpha coefficients as evidence of score reliability. I observed statistically significant mean reliability differences for scores across the 5 scales, with the highest level of reliability observed for scores on the measure of Negative Emotionality and the lowest levels of reliability observed for scores on the measures of Aggression and Disconstraint. There was no evidence that the sex-composition of a sample was systematically related to score reliability, and there were no statistically significant differences in reliability between scores obtained with the English version of the test and those obtained with translated forms. However, reliability was consistently lower for scores on some scales when the data were obtained in nonclinical settings as opposed to clinical ones. Sample size was not significantly correlated with reliability estimates. RG methods have the potential for deepening the level of understanding about the role of reliability in the evaluation and use of personality tests.

The deconstruction of the Hy Scale of MMPI-2: failure of RC3 in measuring somatic symptom expression.

The MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) Clinical Scales have a long history in psychological assessment. Recently, Tellegen et al. (2003) conducted a series of analyses to restructure the scales to reduce what they considered to be problems that limit scale functioning. In a critique of the Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales published in this issue, Nichols (2006/this issue) questions a number of aspects of the approach Tellegen et al. took including their theoretical assumptions, methods of analysis, and failures to report important information needed for scale evaluation such as relationships with existing scales. We concur with many points raised by Nichols. In our analysis of the performance of the RC3 scale, we found that it has "drifted" so far from the original Hy scale as to be a completely different measure- a scale of cynical attitudes that is already well represented in existing MMPI-2 measures. In this article, we take these concerns a step further and examine the history and construct validity of the Hy scale in evaluating the somatic expression of problems that the original authors (McKinley & Hathaway, 1944) intended. We also include new information from a medical setting, an application not represented in Tellegen et al.'s RC Scale monograph. In agreement with Rogers et al. (2006/this issue), it is our conclusion that some RC Scales do not represent the measurement domain of the original scales and should not be relied on for or used to refine traditional interpretation, particularly in medical or forensic situations (such as personal injury cases) because of their confusing and conflicting results.

Predictive and treatment validity of life satisfaction and the quality of life inventory.

The clinical and positive psychology usefulness of quality of life, well-being, and life satisfaction assessments depends on their ability to predict important outcomes and to detect intervention-related change. These issues were explored in the context of a program of instrument validation for the Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI) involving 3,927 clients from various clinical settings. Clinical norms were also generated that supplement existing nationwide norms. The predictive validity of the QOLI and life satisfaction in a university counseling center was supported in terms of its ability to predict academic retention both by itself and in conjunction with cumulative grade point average 1 to 3 years in advance. The QOLI was also found to be sensitive to treatment-related change in two naturalistic clinical settings and samples. The interpretation and intervention utility of measures of quality of life, well-being, and life satisfaction are discussed with respect to clinical and positive psychology research.

The MMPI-2 in sexual harassment and discrimination litigants.

In order to understand patterns of respondents on validity and clinical scales, this study analyzed archival Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2s (MMPI-2s) produced by 192 women and 14 men who initiated legal claims of ongoing emotional harm related to workplace sexual harassment and discrimination. The MMPI-2s were administered as a part of a comprehensive psychiatric forensic evaluation of the claimants' current psychological condition. All validity and clinical scale scores were manually entered into the computer, and codetype and cluster analyses were obtained. Among the women, 28% produced a "normal limits" profile, providing no MMPI-2 support for their claims of ongoing emotional distress. Cluster analysis of the validity scales of the remaining profiles produced four distinctive clusters of profiles representing different approaches to the test items.