Latent Variable Structural Equation Modeling Research Articles

A Validation Study of the Internet-Specific Epistemic Justification Inventory With Norwegian Preservice Teachers

The purpose of this study was to validate a new inventory designed to measure epistemic beliefs concerning the justification of knowledge claims encountered on the Internet. Confirmatory factor analysis of the scores of 394 preservice teachers showed that a three-factor model including justification by authority, justification by multiple sources, and personal justification fit the data well. Moreover, latent variable structural equation modeling showed that these three types of justification beliefs differentially predicted aspects of Internet-specific reading motivation and engagement. Taken together, these results provide evidence for the construct validity of the inventory and lay the foundation for further validation work. The theoretical and educational significance of the study is discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

Physical activity and parents of very young children: The role of beliefs and social-cognitive factors.

Despite the unequivocal benefits of regular physical activity, many parents engage in lower levels of physical activity (PA) following the birth of a child. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and health action process approach (HAPA), an integrative model was developed to examine variables predicting PA in parents of very young children. In addition, key beliefs related to PA intentions and behaviour among parents of very young children were investigated. A prospective-correlational design with two waves of data collection, spaced one week apart, was adopted. Parents (N=297) completed an online- or paper-based questionnaire assessing TPB global constructs and belief-based items as well as family social support and planning from the HAPA. One week later, parents self-reported their PA behaviour. Data were analysed using latent variable structural equationmodelling. Findings revealed the model was a good fit to the data, accounting for 62% and 27% of the variance in PA intentions and behaviour, respectively. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control predicted intentions. Family social support failed to predict both planning and intentions. Physical activity was predicted by planning only, with an indirect effect occurring from intentions to behaviour through planning. A number of key beliefs on intentions and behaviour were also identified. This formative research provides further understanding of the factors that influence the PA behaviour of parents of very young children. Results provide targets for future interventions to increase PA for parents in a transition phase where PA levels decline. Statement of Contribution What is already known on this subject? Despite physical activity benefits, many parents are inactive following the birth of a child Social-cognitive models have demonstrated efficacy in predicting physical activity Weaknesses are inherent in the use of single theories to explain behaviour What does this study add? Use of integrative models allows for meaningful prediction of parental physical activity A range of key beliefs were found to be related to parental physical activity Results can inform future physical activity interventions for parents of very young children.

Friendless Adolescents: Do Perceptions of Social Threat Account for Their Internalizing Difficulties and Continued Friendlessness?

Adolescents who lack friends at school are at risk of internalizing difficulties. This study examined a social-cognitive mechanism underlying friendlessness and internalizing difficulties (i.e., depressive symptoms, social anxiety, low self-esteem). We tested whether perceived social threat (i.e., peer victimization, sense of unsafety, and peer misconduct) mediates the association between friendlessness and increased internalizing difficulties across middle school. Latent variable structural equationmodeling was used to test the model among an ethnically diverse sample of 5,991 (52% female) adolescents. The results demonstrate that friendless sixth-grade students perceived their school environment as more threatening by seventh grade, which in turn, increased internalizing difficulties from sixth to eighth grade. Perceptions of threat also predicted friendlessness at the end of middle school.

Discrimination, work outcomes, and mental health among women of color: The protective role of womanist attitudes.

With a sample of employed women of color (N = 276), we tested the associations of sexist and racist discrimination with poor work outcomes (job-related burnout and turnover intentions) and mental health outcomes (i.e., psychological distress). Drawing from the Theory of Work Adjustment, Organizational Support Theory, and scholarship on discrimination, we tested perceived person-organization (P-O) fit, perceived organizational support, and self-esteem as mediators of the associations of workplace discrimination with the outcomes. Based on intersectionality scholarship, womanist attitudes were tested as a moderator. Participants provided cross-sectional data via an online survey. Latent variable structural equation modeling results indicated that a second-order latent workplace discrimination variable yielded better fit to the data than modeling sexist and racist discrimination separately. Workplace discrimination was directly and indirectly (via the mediating role of self-esteem) associated with higher psychological distress. Furthermore, workplace discrimination was indirectly associated with poor work outcomes through the mediating roles of perceived P-O fit, perceived organizational support, and self-esteem. Last, moderation analyses indicated that higher womanist attitudes weakened the direct association of workplace discrimination with psychological distress. (PsycINFO Database Record

Executive Function, Behavioral Self-Regulation, and School Related Well-Being Did Not Mediate the Effect of School-Based Physical Activity on Academic Performance in Numeracy in 10-Year-Old Children. The Active Smarter Kids (ASK) Study.

Inconsistent findings exist for the effect of school-based physical activity interventions on academic performance. The Active Smarter Kids (ASK) study revealed a favorable intervention effect of school-based physical activity on academic performance in numeracy in a subsample of 10-year-old elementary schoolchildren performing poorer at baseline in numeracy. Aiming to explain this finding, we investigated the mediating effects of executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and school related well-being in the relation between the physical activity intervention and child’s performance in numeracy. An ANCOVA model with latent variable structural equation modeling was estimated using data from 360 children (the lower third in academic performance in numeracy at baseline). The model consisted of the three latent factors as mediators; executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and school related well-being. We found no mediating effects of executive function, behavioral self-regulation or school related well-being in the relationship between the ASK intervention and academic performance in numeracy (p ≥ 0.256). Our results suggest that the effect of the intervention on performance in numeracy in the present sample is not explained by change in executive function, behavioral self-regulation, or school related well-being. We suggest this finding mainly could be explained by the lack of effect of the intervention on the mediators, which might be due to an insufficient dose of physical activity.Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov registry, trial registration number: NCT02132494.

Parental supervision for their children's toothbrushing: Mediating effects of planning, self-efficacy, and action control.

With 60-90% of children worldwide reportedly experiencing dental caries, poor oral health in the younger years is a major public health issue. As parents are important to children's oral hygiene practices, we examined the key self-regulatory behaviours of parents for supervising their children's toothbrushing using the health action process approach. Participants (N=281, 197 mothers) comprised Australian parents of 2- to 5-year-olds. A longitudinal design was used to investigate the sequential mediation chain for the effect of intention (Time 1) on parental supervision for their youngest child's toothbrushing (Time 3), via self-efficacy and planning (Time 2), and action control (Time 3). A latent-variable structural equationmodel, controlling for baseline behaviour and habit, revealed significant indirect effects from intention via self-efficacy and action control and intention via planning and action control, on parental supervision behaviour. The model was a good fit to the data, explaining 74% of the variance in parents' supervising behaviour for their children's toothbrushing. While national recommendations are provided to guide parents in promoting good oral hygiene practices with their children, current results show the importance of going beyond simple knowledge transmission to support parents' intentions to supervise their children's toothbrushing actually materialize. Current findings make a significant contribution to the cumulative empirical evidence regarding self-regulatory components in health behaviour change and can inform intervention development to increase parents' participation in childhood oral hygiene practices, thus helping to curb rising oral health conditions and diseases. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Self-regulatory skills are important to translate intentions into behaviour. Self-efficacy, planning, and action control are key self-regulatory skills for behaviour change. What does this study add? Self-regulatory skills are needed for parents to supervise their children's toothbrushings. Self-efficacy, planning, and action control are important self-regulatory skills in this context. Future interventions should map these self-regulatory predictors onto behaviour change techniques.

Rejection Sensitivity and Responses to Rejection: Serial Mediators Linking Parenting to Adolescents and Young Adults’ Depression and Trait-Anxiety

Drawing from and extending rejection sensitivity (RS) theory, we tested a serial mediation pathway model, whereby perceived parenting practices were expected to be indirectly related to participants’ depressive and trait-anxious symptoms through RS, as well as emotional and behavioural responses to rejection. Participants were 628 adolescents and young adults (M= 19.8 years,SD= 2.6, 65.3% female) completing self-report measures assessing current perceived parenting practices, RS, emotion dysregulation, emotion suppression, social withdrawal, and depressive and trait-anxious symptoms. In latent-variable structural equation modelling, a latent construct of more positive (and fewer negative) perceived parenting practices was directly associated with offsprings’ lower level of depression and trait-anxiety symptoms. Also, there were indirect associations of parenting via RS, emotion dysregulation, suppression, and social withdrawal, regardless of whether the model focused on depressive or trait-anxious symptoms. The findings provide further support of the importance for adolescents and young adults to perceive that they experience warm and autonomy-supportive relationships with their parents (instead of rejecting, coercive, or psychologically controlling relationships); along with providing an extended model whereby anxious expectations of rejection associates with greater emotional difficulties through negative responses to difficult emotions and the tendency to withdraw from such experiences. Together, perceived parenting practices and rejection-related beliefs and responses seem to activate a pathway to elevated depressive and trait-anxiety symptoms.

Images of God, Religious Involvement, and Prison Misconduct among Inmates

ABSTRACTThe authors examine an offender’s images of God – beliefs concerning God’s forgiveness, engagement, and judgment – in relation to prison misconduct. They test whether these beliefs are related inversely to misconduct and, if so, whether the relationships are mediated by an inmate’s religious involvement. The authors apply latent-variable structural equation modeling to analyze data from a survey of inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Controlling for sociodemographic and criminal backgrounds, they find an inmate’s belief in God’s engagement and forgiveness to be inversely associated with disciplinary convictions, though belief in God’s judgment is not related to misconduct. The authors also find the relationship between an inmate’s image of a forgiving God and misconduct to be mediated by the inmate’s conversion narrative.

The Relationship between Grandiose and Vulnerable (Hypersensitive) Narcissism.

Narcissistic grandiosity is characterized by overt expressions of feelings of superiority and entitlement, while narcissistic vulnerability reflects hypersensitivity and introversive self-absorbedness. Clinical evidence suggests that grandiosity is accompanied by vulnerable aspects, pointing to a common foundation. Subclinical personality research, however, views grandiose and vulnerable narcissism as independent traits. Grandiose narcissism displays substantial correlation with extraversion, while vulnerable narcissism correlates highly with introversion. We investigated if (1) controlling for intro-/extraversion might reveal a “common core” of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and if (2) the correlation between both aspects might be higher at higher levels of narcissism. Latent variable structural equation modeling and segmented regression analysis confirmed these hypotheses in a large non-clinical sample (N = 1,006). Interindividual differences in intro-/extraversion mask the common core of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. The association between both aspects increases at high levels (upper 10%) of grandiose narcissism, which suggests a possible transition to clinically relevant (pathological) narcissism.

No evidence for a role of the serotonin 4 receptor in five-factor personality traits: A positron emission tomography brain study.

Serotonin (5-HT) brain architecture appears to be implicated in normal personality traits as supported by genetic associations and studies using molecular brain imaging. However, so far, no studies have addressed potential contributions to variation in normal personality traits from in vivo serotonin 4 receptor (5-HT4R) brain availability, which has recently become possible to image with Positron Emission Tomography (PET). This is particularly relevant since availability of 5-HT4R has been shown to adapt to synaptic levels of 5-HT and thus offers information about serotonergic tone in the healthy brain. In 69 healthy participants (18 females), the associations between personality traits assessed with the five-factor NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) and regional cerebral 5-HT4R binding in neocortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were investigated using linear regression models. The associations between each of the five personality traits and a latent variable construct of global 5-HT4R levels were also evaluated using latent variable structural equation models. We found no significant associations between the five NEO personality traits and regional 5-HT4R binding (all p-values > .17) or the latent construct of global 5-HT4R levels (all p-values > .37). Our findings indicate that NEO personality traits and 5-HT4R are not related in healthy participants. Under the assumption that global 5-HT4R levels index 5-HT tone, our data also suggest that 5-HT tone per se is not directly implicated in normal personality traits.

School Sports Participation and Academic Achievement in Middle and High School

Objective: Previous research has found that physical activity has considerable potential to promote child development and, thus, should be of interest to social workers. An important gap in the literature regards the potential of school sports to increase academic outcomes. The goal of this cross-sectional analysis was to examine a partially mediated hypothesis linking school sports participation with academic achievement via positive body-weight image and global self-esteem. Method: Data are from a convenience sample of 3,186 students in the 6th to 9th grades from 14 schools in one North Carolina county. All measures were taken from the School Success Profile survey. Latent variable structural equation modeling was used with appropriate estimation methods for the nonnormal, ordinal, and clustered data. Results: The measurement model and structural models exhibited acceptable fit. Results indicate that school sports participation was significantly associated with academic achievement, positive body-image perceptions, and self-esteem. Overall, participation in school sports demonstrated a significant standardized effect (.225) on academic achievement. Comparison with an alternative model comprising only nonsports extracurricular-activity participation found that the school sports model was both distinct and preferred. Conclusions: Findings suggest that school sports may promote several outcomes of interest to social workers, and that social work research should further investigate the mechanisms underlying these relationships.

Modeling Partisan Media Effects in the 2014 U.S. Midterm Elections

This study tested partisan media effects in the 2014 U.S. midterm elections. A survey was distributed to 992 residents of Georgia, Iowa, and North Carolina. A novel multigroup latent variable structural equation model tested the direct, indirect, and conditional effects of political interest, partisan media use, political information efficacy, and partisanship on affective polarization. Findings demonstrated a polarizing effect of pro-partisan media, a depolarizing effect of cross-cutting media, and an indirect effect of political interest on polarization through partisan media use. There was no evidence that the effects of partisan media were mediated through political confidence or moderated by partisanship.

Leisure, Relatedness, and Ill-Being among Older Adults in Long-Term Care

ABSTRACTA self-determination theoretical framework was applied to examine the relationship between leisure activity engagement and ill-being (depression and health) and the mediating role of relatedness, measured as social support, among older adults in long-term care (N = 110). Results from the latent variable structural equation models suggest that, when controlling for functional status, participating in leisure activities was related to lower ill-being. This relationship was mediated by social support, such that activity engagement facilitated relatedness and relatedness was associated with improved mental and physical health. Discussion of the importance of leisure activities and social support as well as intervention implications are included.

Intelligence and Verbal Short-Term Memory/Working Memory: Their Interrelationships from Childhood to Young Adulthood and Their Impact on Academic Achievement

Although recent developmental studies exploring the predictive power of intelligence and working memory (WM) for educational achievement in children have provided evidence for the importance of both variables, findings concerning the relative impact of IQ and WM on achievement have been inconsistent. Whereas IQ has been identified as the major predictor variable in a few studies, results from several other developmental investigations suggest that WM may be the stronger predictor of academic achievement. In the present study, data from the Munich Longitudinal Study on the Genesis of Individual Competencies (LOGIC) were used to explore this issue further. The secondary data analysis included data from about 200 participants whose IQ and WM was first assessed at the age of six and repeatedly measured until the ages of 18 and 23. Measures of reading, spelling, and math were also repeatedly assessed for this age range. Both regression analyses based on observed variables and latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) were carried out to explore whether the predictive power of IQ and WM would differ as a function of time point of measurement (i.e., early vs. late assessment). As a main result of various regression analyses, IQ and WM turned out to be reliable predictors of academic achievement, both in early and later developmental stages, when previous domain knowledge was not included as additional predictor. The latter variable accounted for most of the variance in more comprehensive regression models, reducing the impact of both IQ and WM considerably. Findings from SEM analyses basically confirmed this outcome, indicating IQ impacts on educational achievement in the early phase, and illustrating the strong additional impact of previous domain knowledge on achievement at later stages of development.

Religion and Misconduct in “Angola” Prison: Conversion, Congregational Participation, Religiosity, and Self-Identities

Prior research tends to find an inverse relationship between inmates’ religion and misconduct in prison, but this relationship has lacked empirical explanation. We therefore propose the religion-misconduct relationship is mediated by inmates’ identity transformation on existential, cognitive, and emotional dimensions. To test the mediation, we conducted a survey of inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (a.k.a. “Angola”). Controlling for inmates’ sociodemographic and criminal backgrounds, we estimated a latent-variable structural equation model of disciplinary convictions. Results showed that inmates’ religious conversion and, to a lesser extent, religiosity itself were positively related to existential and cognitive transformations as well as a “crystallization of discontent,” which were in turn associated with two types of emotional transformation in the expected direction. The crystallization of discontent and transformation in negative affect were related to disciplinary convictions as hypothesized, and their mediation of the effects of conversion and religiosity on misconduct were found to be significant.

Using multiple biomarkers and determinants to obtain a better measurement of oxidative stress: a latent variable structural equation model approach

Purpose: Since oxidative stress involves a variety of cellular changes, no single biomarker can serve as a complete measure of this complex biological process. The analytic technique of structural equation modeling (SEM) provides a possible solution to this problem by modelling a latent (unobserved) variable constructed from the covariance of multiple biomarkers.Methods: Using three pooled datasets, we modelled a latent oxidative stress variable from five biomarkers related to oxidative stress: F2-isoprostanes (FIP), fluorescent oxidation products, mitochondrial DNA copy number, γ-tocopherol (Gtoc) and C-reactive protein (CRP, an inflammation marker closely linked to oxidative stress). We validated the latent variable by assessing its relation to pro- and anti-oxidant exposures.Results: FIP, Gtoc and CRP characterized the latent oxidative stress variable. Obesity, smoking, aspirin use and β-carotene were statistically significantly associated with oxidative stress in the theorized directions; the same exposures were weakly and inconsistently associated with the individual biomarkers.Conclusions: Our results suggest that using SEM with latent variables decreases the biomarker-specific variability, and may produce a better measure of oxidative stress than do single variables. This methodology can be applied to similar areas of research in which a single biomarker is not sufficient to fully describe a complex biological phenomenon.

Perceived primal threat of mental illness and recovery: The mediating role of self-stigma and self-empowerment.

Although people in recovery from mental illness can continue to live a personally meaningful life despite their mental illness, their perception of mental illness as being a threat to their basic needs may influence the way they view themselves as a person with mental illness and their sense of mastery over their condition. The present study explored the effects of perceived primal threat on the recovery of people with mental illness, considering the mediating roles of self-stigma and self-empowerment. Latent variable structural equation modeling was conducted among 376 individuals with mental illness in Hong Kong. The model had excellent fit to the data (χ2 = 123.96, df = 60, χ2/df = 2.07, comparative fit index [CFI] = .98, Tucker-Lewis index [TLI] = .97, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .05, standardized root mean squared residual [SRMR] = .04). The influence of perceived primal threat on recovery was mediated by self-stigma and self-empowerment. Specifically, perceived primal threat was associated positively with self-stigma, which was negatively related to recovery; in contrast, it was negatively related to self-empowerment, which was positively related to recovery. This study adds to the understanding of the mechanism underlying the influence of perceived primal threat on recovery and suggests that perceived primal threat should be considered in the recovery process among people with mental illness. (PsycINFO Database Record

Perceived social support from parents and teachers’ influence on students' mathematics-related self-beliefs

Studies have shown that parents’ and teachers’ behaviours shape young people’s self-beliefs and achievement in mathematics. Little research has documented the ways in which perceived social support (PSS) promotes students’ self-beliefs (self-confidence and self-concept) towards mathematics in Ghana. Given the important role that students’ PSS (from parents and teachers) plays in fostering children's academic interest, this paper aims to identify the empirical link between PSS and students’ mathematics self-beliefs. The sample consisted of 2034 12th grade (average age = 18.49, girls = 58.20%) high-school students. The possible mediating role of students’ self-confidence on the relationship between students’ PSS and self-concept was examined using latent variable structural equation modelling. The results indicated that PSS statistically significantly predicts students’ mathematics self-belief. Moreover, students’ mathematics self-confidence was found to play a mediating role between PSS and mathematics self-concept. The proportion of the effects mediated, however, varied across the two support sources from 12% to 34%. The findings lend support to the theoretical assumptions in the literature that supportive social relationships influence students’ self-beliefs.

PTSD symptoms among tsunami exposed mothers in Sri Lanka: the role of disaster exposure, culturally specific coping strategies, and recovery efforts

ABSTRACTBackground and objectives: Women in Sri Lanka have been uniquely exposed to a complex and protracted set of stressors stemming from a civil war conflict spanning over 25 years and the tsunami which struck Southeast Asia in 2004. This study investigates coping strategies and their association with trauma-related symptoms of tsunami-exposed mothers in Sri Lanka at two time points.Design: Data for this study come from surveys administered in two waves of data collection to investigate both mothers’ and adolescent children’s post-tsunami mental health in early 2005, three months after the tsunami struck, and again in 2008, three years later.Methods: Latent-variable structural equation modeling was used to test the study hypotheses among 160 tsunami-affected mothers in the Polhena village, Matara district, Sri Lanka.Results: Among the various coping strategies examined, the use of cultural rituals as well as inner psychological strength was associated with lower levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms. In contrast, passive religious beliefs were associated with greater posttraumatic stress levels.Conclusions: The results of this study reveal the differential associations of various coping strategies including rituals used by mothers exposed to the tsunami in Sri Lanka and their posttraumatic stress symptom levels.

Coparenting and Parental School Involvement

Parental school involvement is associated with social, psychological, and academic child outcomes. Beyond school, demographic, and individual influences, research on the relationship between family level processes and parental school involvement is limited. Coparenting is a unique family level relationship that influences parental engagement, but its link with parental school involvement is less understood. The goal of this study was to examine the association between coparenting support and biological mothers’ and fathers’ home-based involvement and school-based involvement when the child was 9-years-old. This study also tested whether biological parental union transitions (i.e., parental union dissolution; parental union formation with each other; stable coresident relationship with one another) significantly moderated these relationships, and whether the associations among the variables of interest were empirically stronger for mothers or fathers. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1896 biological mothers and fathers), the current study utilized multiple-sample latent variable structural equation modeling analyses to explore the above associations. Higher levels of coparenting support were associated with higher levels of mothers’ and fathers’ home-based involvement, and higher levels of fathers’ school-based involvement. Union transitions did not moderate these relationships. The link between coparenting support and home-based involvement was significantly stronger for mothers, and the link between coparenting support and school-based involvement was significantly stronger for fathers. Coparenting support may be important to understanding the many components that influence parental school involvement.