Social competence and behavior problems in preschool children.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines development of social competence, and behavior problems in kindergarten children during a specific period of childhood. METHOD: A sample of 499 kindergarten children (244 girls and 255 boys) with the age range of 2 years up to 5 years and 6 months was selected using the random stratified sampling method. To collect data, California Preschool Social Competence Scale and Social Skills Rating System were completed by kindergarten teachers. RESULTS: The trend analysis shows that both the linear and quadratic trends for verbal facility were statistically significant. Similarly, both the linear and cubic trends were significant for considerateness, and the linear trend tendency was significant for subscales of extraversion, response to unfamiliar and task orientation. Pearson's correlation coefficient yielded a low-to-moderate and negative correlation patterns between social component and problem behaviors. CONCLUSION: The study findings indicate a significant linear trend between the progression in social competence and increasing age, consequently leading to a decrease in social problems for children whose age was from 2 years up to 5 years and 6 months.

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the career decision-making difficulties questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed at validating the structure of Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ). METHODS: Five hundred and eleven undergraduate students took part in this research; from these participants, 63 males and 200 females took part in the first study, and 63 males and 185 females completed the survey for the second study. RESULTS: The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated strong support for the three-factor structure, consisting of lack of information about the self, inconsistent information, lack of information and lack of readiness factors. A confirmatory factor analysis was run with the second sample using structural equation modeling. As expected, the three-factor solution provided a better fit to the data than the alternative models. CONCLUSION: CDDQ was recommended to be used for college students in this study due to the fact that this instrument measures all three aspects of the model. Future research is needed to learn whether this model would fit other different samples.

The relationship between procrastination, learning strategies and statistics anxiety among Iranian college students: a canonical correlation analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Approximately 66-80%of graduate students experience statistics anxiety and some researchers propose that many students identify statistics courses as the most anxiety-inducing courses in their academic curriculums. As such, it is likely that statistics anxiety is, in part, responsible for many students delaying enrollment in these courses for as long as possible. This paper proposes a canonical model by treating academic procrastination (AP), learning strategies (LS) as predictor variables and statistics anxiety (SA) as explained variables. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was used for data collection and 246-college female student participated in this study. To examine the mutually independent relations between procrastination, learning strategies and statistics anxiety variables, a canonical correlation analysis was computed. RESULTS: Findings show that two canonical functions were statistically significant. The set of variables (metacognitive self-regulation, source management, preparing homework, preparing for test and preparing term papers) helped predict changes of statistics anxiety with respect to fearful behavior, Attitude towards math and class, Performance, but not Anxiety. CONCLUSION: These findings could be used in educational and psychological interventions in the context of statistics anxiety reduction.

The factor structure of the revised cheek and buss shyness scale in an undergraduate university sample.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) using confirmatory factor analysis among (n = 300) college students. METHOD: A total of 300 undergraduate students participated in this study And completed the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS). A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test diagnosis as a unitary construct and to test an earlier-reported two-factor model. RESULTS: Results indicated that unidimensional measurement model of the RCBS did not provide the best fit for the data. Then three measurement models were tested, and the results showed that a two-factor model taking into account differences in the direction of item wording provided a satisfactory and parsimonious fit to the data. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to better understand the factorial invariance of the scale across genders, and indicated that two-factor structure of the RCBS was equivalent across genders. Supplementary t-tests revealed no other gender differences on shyness. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide initial support for the construct validity of the self- report version of the RCBS in college students.

World Health Organization Quality-of-Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF): Analyses of Their Item Response Theory Properties Based on the Graded Responses Model.

OBJECTIVE: This study has used Item Response Theory (IRT) to examine the psychometric properties of Health-Related Quality-of-Life. METHOD: This investigation is a descriptive- analytic study. Subjects were 370 undergraduate students of nursing and midwifery who were selected from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. All participants were asked to complete the Farsi version of WHOQOL-BREF. Samejima's graded response model was used for the analyses. RESULTS: The results revealed that the discrimination parameters for all items in the four scales were low to moderate. The threshold parameters showed adequate representation of the relevant traits from low to the mean trait level. With the exception of 15, 18, 24 and 26 items, all other items showed low item information function values, and thus relatively high reliability from low trait levels to moderate levels. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that although there was general support for the psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-BREF from an IRT perspective, this measure can be further improved. IRT analyses provided useful measurement information and demonstrated to be a better methodological approach for enhancing our knowledge of the functionality of WHOQOL-BREF.