Growth mixture modeling (GMM) is a useful tool for examining both between- and within-persons change over time and uncovering unobserved heterogeneity in growth trajectories. Importantly, the correct extraction of latent classes and parameter recovery can be dependent upon the type of covariates used. Time-varying covariates (TVCs) can influence class membership but are scarcely included in GMMs as predictors. Other times, TVCs are incorrectly modeled as time-invariant covariates (TICs). Additionally, problematic results can occur with the use of maximum likelihood (ML) estimation in GMMs, including convergence issues and sub-optimal maxima. In such cases, Bayesian estimation may prove to be a useful solution. The present Monte Carlo simulation study aimed to assess class enumeration accuracy and parameter recovery of GMMs with a TVC, particularly when a TVC has been incorrectly specified as a TIC. Both ML estimation and Bayesian estimation were examined. Results indicated that class enumeration indices perform less favorably in the case of TVC misspecification, particularly absolute class enumeration indices. Additionally, in the case of TVC misspecification, parameter bias was found to be greater than the generally accepted cutoff of 10%, particularly for variance estimates. It is recommended that researchers continue to use a variety of class enumeration indices during …

In recent years, the sport of women's ice hockey is growing fast worldwide. Upon winning the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, women's ice hockey in China started to develop rapidly. However, the development of women's ice hockey in China has encountered numerous challenges. These challenges include addressing traditional Chinese culture, gender norms, and the process of sport reform. This study used a qualitative case study methodology to examine the perspectives of Chinese women ice hockey players, coaches, club administrators, government administrators, and the parents of youth hockey players to understand how women's ice hockey navigated itself within the institutional complexity to gain legitimacy, and how the different institutional logics impacted the identities of organizations within women's ice hockey in China. An abductive grounded theory approach was used to analyze the transcriptions and archived documents. Findings indicated that there were challenges for the development of women's ice hockey in China at macro level, meso level, and micro level. Actors such as hockey administrations, professional clubs, and ice hockey coaches and players at different levels adopted multiple forms of institutional work to find out ways to incorporate institutional structures that mitigated the fact that there were multiple logics. In addition, …

The current study focused on dyadic discrepancy, the difference between two individuals. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to compare three dyadic discrepancy estimation methods across a variety of potential research conditions, including variations on intraclass correlation, cluster number, reliability, effect size, and effect size variance. The methods compared were: raw score difference (RSD); empirical Bayes estimate of slope in multilevel modeling (EBD); and structural equation modeling estimate (SEM). Accuracy and reliability of the discrepancy estimate and the accuracy of prediction when using the discrepancy to predict an outcome were examined. The results indicated that RSD and SEM, despite having poor reliability, performed better than EBD when predicting an outcome. The results of this research provide methodological guidance to researchers interested in dyadic discrepancies.

College student and Amazon's Mechanical TURK (MTURK) samples are regularly utilized in trauma research. Recent literature, however, has criticized these samples for not being generalizable to the general U.S. population. Measurement invariance (MI) using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), is rarely utilized in trauma research, even though the analysis can determine whether groups are invariant across factor structure, factor loadings, item intercepts, and residual error variances on a given measure of PTSD symptom severity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether college student (n = 255) and MTURK (n = 316) samples are invariant on the PCL-5. Model fit indices indicated the 7-factor Hybrid model was the best fitting model, but the 6-factor anhedonia model was the most parsimonious model. Both models demonstrated equivalence in factor structures (configural invariance), factor loadings (metric invariance), intercepts (scalar invariance), and residuals (strict invariance), indicating MTURK and college student samples are similar in regards to PTSD symptom severity. These findings provide evidence that these groups can be combined in future studies to increase sample size for trauma research. Only the Anhedonia factor exhibited mean differences between groups, which may be related to true differences between college students and MTURK survey-takers. Thus, there is …

Research has identified job context, specific attributes of professional development (PD), and perceived teacher input as factors that contribute to teachers' attitudes. This sequential mixed methods study tested those findings together and further investigated teachers' beliefs and attitudes about their own professional learning. The first phase of data collection included a 5-item attitude survey, demographic information, and two short-answer questions. Multiple regression analysis of the sample (N = 328) showed four statistically significant contributors to teacher attitude: (i) socioeconomic status of the school, (ii) teacher years of experience at the campus, (iii) content area taught, and (iv) degree attained by the teacher. During the second phase, six focus groups were conducted which confirmed earlier findings and revealed four themes in teachers' attitudes: (1) a need and desire for collaborative, engaging PD; (2) perceived interference from outside forces that supplant teachers' own PD goals and wishes; (3) a need to establish a context and a cohesive plan for long-term career and campus goals; and (4) a subgroup of teachers who believe that PD has little inherent value. Limitations and implications are included.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) assess cycling coaches' trauma-related competencies, as measured by trauma knowledge (i.e., trauma-specific education, familiarity with post-traumatic stress [PTS]), stigma of persons with PTS (i.e., fear/dangerousness, help/interact, forcing treatment, negative emotions), and interpersonal skills (i.e., self-reported emotional intelligence, perceived quality of coach-athlete relationships); and (b) examine the influence that trauma knowledge and stigma of persons with PTS has on coaching efficacy specific to coaching trauma-impacted athletes (i.e., trauma-informed coaching efficacy), after controlling for general coaching experience. Descriptive statistics indicated the majority of coaches had no trauma-specific education, a high degree of familiarity with PTS, and a low level of stigma via four attribution variables. Moreover, participants highly appraised their own emotional intelligence, the quality of their coach-athlete relationships, and their trauma-informed coaching efficacy. A hierarchical regression analyses indicated that familiarity with PTS helped to explain additional variance in trauma-informed coaching efficacy over and above demographic and general coach experience variables. The study establishes trauma-informed coaching as a distinct area of research and highlights the need for improved continuing education opportunities for coaches related to psychological trauma and PTS.

Supporting creativity in undergraduate education is important for the future development of society. To do this, an understanding of undergraduate characteristics is needed. A systematic literature review of the relationship between the Big Five personality factors and little-c creativity in undergraduates identified 19 studies. The creativity assessments within these investigations represented several conceptions of the construct with domain-general, self-reported measures of Person as most common. Results suggest that both Openness to Experience and Extraversion have strong, consistent, positive relationships with creativity. Few significant relations were found concerning Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Notable differences were found between NEO and IPIP inventories in regard to the strength of the relationship between the Big Five personality factors and creativity. Additional differences were also found concerning which students were assessed. Given these results along with previous research, six descriptive discriminant analyses (DDAs) were conducted to identify differences between honors and non-honors undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and those in non-STEM majors in relation to personality and creative self-beliefs. Surveys, which included a 120-item, 5-point scale measure of the Big Five and a 50-item, 5-point scale measure of creative self-beliefs, were completed by 573 undergraduates. No interaction effects were observed. However, …

In response to concerns about using only standardized multiple-choice assessments, some school districts have moved to using alternative ratings of student achievement with authentic assessments. However, such assessments are often limited in terms of the psychometric validity data supporting their use. The present study mixed quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the validity, development, and refinement of an authentic rating approach currently in use in middle school mathematics classes from a large suburban school district in the Southwest United States. A sample of teachers (n = 14), rated students (n = 110) using a pilot rubric of 187 items. Analyses resulted in a 32-item rubric with 20 themes and 9 factors. Results from a G-study revealed the facet that best explained variance in student scores was the interaction between raters and assessment units, as well as students and assessment units. As part of the development of the assessment, a content validity exercise revealed 18% of the rubric items as below average quality. Findings highlight the need to enhance contextualization of rubrics, use a strategy of assessment that includes contextualized and decontextualized assessment, and to investigate the role of utilization deficiency in explaining low student scores.

This study investigated the association between Chinese immigrant mothers' reports of parenting stress and two sources of parenting support: fathers' support and social support. Five independent-samples t-tests were first computed to examine whether there were discrepancies between Chinese immigrant mothers' and fathers' perceptions of fathers' involvement across five domains of fathers' involvement in early child care: (1) fathers' warmth and attunement; (2) control and process responsibility; (3) emotional involvement; (4) indirect care; and (5) positive engagement. Then regression analyses were conducted to understand how and to what extent the five domains of father involvement reported by mothers and mothers' perceived social support influenced Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting stress. In addition, an indirect effects of mothers' self-efficacy on the relation between fathers' involvement and mothers' parenting stress was also tested. The results showed that Chinese mothers reported significantly greater level of fathers' emotional involvement than the same type of involvement reported by Chinese immigrant fathers. This study also found that fathers' emotional involvement reported by Chinese immigrant mothers was a significant predictor of Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting stress. However, mothers' perceived social support was a stronger predictor, accounting for more variance in their parenting stress than their reports of fathers' involvement …

Understanding how emotions influence motivation among students is critical to the talent development process. Research shows that certain emotions elicit an approach motive while other emotions elicit an avoidance motive. This study explored emotional disposition and fear of failure among undergraduates enrolled in honors college (n = 63) compared to undergraduates enrolled in regular college courses (n = 296). Results suggest that dispositional shame is positively correlated with fear of failure; however, neither gender nor enrollment in honors college predict fear of failure beyond dispositional shame. Students enrolled in honors college do not differ on measurements of shame and fear of failure compared to students not enrolled in honors college. In general, female undergraduates were more likely to report experiences of shame, guilt, fear of shame and embarrassment, and fear of devaluing one's self-estimate than their male peers. The findings are discussed in light of a need to understand high-ability college students.

This dissertation investigated the roles of early childhood fundamental motor skills (FMS) competence on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health outcomes among underserved preschoolers in Head Start, and examined parental influence on their children's FMS competence. An explanatory sequential mixed methodology was used to examine the predictive strength of FMS competence on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health outcomes among 216 underserved preschoolers from six Head Start centers (Mage = 4.32, SD = 0.63; girls 56.5%). This methodology allowed for a follow-up qualitative aspect to explore the influence of parents' perceptions and behaviors on their child's FMS competence and health outcomes in a subsample of eight parent–child dyads who demonstrate high or low FMS competence in the quantitative data. The results of this dissertation suggest that preschoolers' FMS competence, especially locomotor skills, were associated with and predicted various health outcomes in sedentary behavior (β = -0.21), light physical activity (β = 0.23), executive function (β = -0.21), and perceived motor competence (β = 0.34). No significant influences of FMS competence on moderate-to-vigorous, body fatness, HRQoL were found (p > 0.05). We also found that positive parental influences (role modeling, support, and facilitation) were observed more often among preschoolers in the high FMS …

Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect globally, affecting both children and their families. Twenty –five percent of children experiencing a CHD birth defect are diagnosed with complex CHD (cCHD), signifying critical heart dysfunction requiring one or more open-heart surgeries during the first year of life. With medical advances, cCHD survival rates have almost tripled in the last three decades. This has resulted in an increase in the number of morbidities associated with cCHD, which is drastically impacting the need to support quality of life outcomes for a child with cCHD and their family. The two most prevalent unaddressed risks for quality of life outcomes in the cCHD population are child and caregiver mental health and child's neurodevelopmental disabilities. Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect globally, affecting both children and their families. Twenty-five percent of children experiencing a CHD birth defect are diagnosed with complex CHD (cCHD), signifying critical heart dysfunction requiring one or more open-heart surgeries during the first year of life. With medical advances, cCHD survival rates have almost tripled in the last three decades. This has resulted in an increase in the number of morbidities associated with cCHD, which is drastically impacting …

Previous research has individually assessed parallel analysis and minimum average partial for factor retention in exploratory factor analysis using ordinal variables. The current study is a comprehensive simulation study including the manipulation of eight conditions (type of correlation matrix, sample size, number of variables per factor, number of factors, factor correlation, skewness, factor loadings, and number of response categories), and three types of retention methods (minimum average partial, parallel analysis, and empirical Kaiser criterion) resulting in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 4 × 5 design that totals to 5,760 condition combinations tested over 1,000 replications each. Results show that each retention method performed worse when utilizing polychoric correlation matrices. Moreover, minimum average partials are quite sensitive to factor loadings and overall perform poorly compared to parallel analysis and empirical Kaiser criterion. Empirical Kaiser criterion performed almost identical to parallel analysis in normally distributed data; however, performed much worse under highly skewed conditions. Based on these findings, it is recommended to use parallel analysis utilizing principal components analysis with a Pearson correlation matrix to determine the number of factors to retain when dealing with ordinal data.