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This paper re-validates middle school students’ learning progression of the concept of buoyancy (Gao et al., 2020) by using two-time point data. The previous study developed a four-level learning progression based on data collected at a single time point using cross-sectional design. This single-time-point model of learning progression calls for a further validation through a longitudinal design focusing on changes in individual students as a result of targeted instruction. In this study, 91 eighth-grade students first learned buoyancy under a traditional pedagogy and took test A of buoyancy. Based on results of test A, the teacher provided a targeted remediation instruction to students. Students then took a second test B which was designed as a parallel instrument to test A. Latent class analysis was conducted to locate students’ levels in the learning progression, and a rule space model was employed to diagnose students’ concept mastery patterns at each level. The test A data provide evidence to support the original learning progression of buoyancy developed by Gao et al. (2020), but the test B data suggest two more additional progression sub-levels for the prior study. Together, our findings indicate that one-time point data under the current status quo of teaching might be insufficient to accurately depict pathways of scientific thinking for how students progress from the lower anchor to the upper anchor. We thus argue that it is essential to involve well-designed instruction and collect multi-time-point data that could portray alternative pathways in students’ learning progression.

The large-scale internal migration from countryside to city over the past 30 years has transformed China’s demographic, social, economic, and educational landscapes. There were approximately 35.81 ...

Purpose: To summarize the framework and development procedure of the China National Assessment of Education Quality - Physical Education & Health in 2015 (CNAEQ-PEH 2015), an authoritative and evid...

We investigated the mediating roles of anger and hostility in the relationship between social support and moral disengagement. Participants were 315 college students who completed the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Aggression Questionnaire to assess anger and hostility, and the Moral Disengagement Questionnaire. Multiple mediation analysis results indicated that high levels of anger and hostility were associated with low levels of social support and high levels of moral disengagement. In addition, the total indirect effects and specific indirect effect of social support on moral disengagement through anger and hostility were all significant, suggesting that anger and hostility mediated the relationship between social support and moral disengagement. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Abstract. Random response is a very common aberrant response behavior in personality tests and may negatively affect the reliability, validity, or other analytical aspects of psychological assessment. Typically, researchers use a single person-fit index to identify random responses. This study recommends a three-step person-fit analysis procedure. Unlike the typical single person-fit methods, the three-step procedure identifies both global misfit and local misfit individuals using different person-fit indices. This procedure was able to identify more local misfit individuals than single-index method, and a graphical method was used to visualize those particular items in which random response behaviors appear. This method may be useful to researchers in that it will provide them with more information about response behaviors, allowing better evaluation of scale administration and development of more plausible explanations. Real data were used in this study instead of simulation data. In order to create real random responses, an experimental test administration was designed. Four different random response samples were produced using this experimental system.

How to effectively evaluate students’ essays based on a series of relatively objective writing criteria has always been a topic of discussion. With the development of automatic essay scoring, a key question is whether the writing quality can be evaluated systematically based on the scoring rubric. To address this issue, we used an innovative set of graph-based features to predict the quality of Chinese middle school students’ essays. These features are divided into four sub-dimensions: basic characteristics, main idea, essay content, and essay development. The results show that graph-based features were significantly better at predicting human essay scores than the baseline features. This indicates that graph-based features can be used to reliably and systematically evaluate the quality of an essay based on the scoring rubric, and it can be used as an alternative tool to replace or supplement human evaluation.

Self-efficacy plays a crucial role in an individual’s success. This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the general self-efficacy scale (GSES-C) for senior elementary school students using item response theory. A total of 568 students—271 boys and 297 girls aged 10 to 14 years (M = 11.81, SD = .69)—were recruited from three elementary schools in East China. Exploratory factor analysis was used to detect dimensionality. A grade response model (GRM) was used to analyze item parameters, differential item functioning (DIF) regarding gender and grade variables, and item information. The results confirmed the unidimensionality and local independence of the scale. The test for model–data fit indicated that the GRM fit the data and that all items fit the model after adjusting for significance level. Furthermore, the test of DIF detected no significant DIF regarding gender or grade variables. Additionally, most items provided acceptable information, with the exceptions of items 2 and 3, which provided little item information for the survey across the entire scale. This study demonstrated that the GSES-C has acceptable psychometric properties and constitutes an excellent method for measuring general self-efficacy from very low to high levels; therefore, it can be used to measure the general self-efficacy of most senior elementary school students after the modification of some items.

The present study examined the reciprocal relations among mathematics interest (MI), mathematics anxiety (MA), mathematics self-efficacy (MSE) and mathematics achievement of primary school students. Based on longitudinal data from 2789 participants, general latent variable modeling framework was used to explore reciprocal effects. The results indicated that (a) prior mathematics achievement positively predicted later MI, whereas previous MI did not affect subsequent mathematics achievement; (b) there was a bidirectional relationship between MA and mathematics achievement as well as MSE and mathematics achievement; (c) prior MA and MSE significantly predicted later MI, whereas the opposite was not; and (d) MA and MSE were reciprocally linked over time. These research results emphasized the importance of developing students' positive mathematical attitudes, emotions and beliefs and shed light on primary school students' mathematics learning in China.

The study examined the dimensionality and psychometric properties of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) criteria for heroin use disorder in a clinical sample of Chinese adolescents using item response theory approach. We examined 168 adolescents aged 14.8–17.9 years, who were in treatment for heroin use disorder. A two-parameter logistic item response theory model was conducted to examine the severity and discrimination of DSM-5 criteria for heroin use disorder. Differential item functioning across age and ethnicity was assessed. Results supported the hypothesis that the DSM-5 criteria for heroin use disorder were arrayed an underlying unitary dimension of severity in clinical adolescents. All the items exhibited good discriminatory power in distinguishing between clinical adolescent heroin users. Although three criteria exhibited measurement non-invariance at the item level, the overall DSM-5 heroin use disorder diagnostic criteria set appears to achieve measurement invariance at the scale level.

As a class of discrete latent variable models, cognitive diagnostic models have been widely researched in education, psychology, and many other disciplines. Detecting and eliminating differential item functioning (DIF) items from cognitive diagnostic tests is of great importance for test fairness and validity. A Monte Carlo study with varying manipulated factors was carried out to investigate the performance of the Mantel-Haenszel (MH), logistic regression (LR), and Wald tests based on item-wise information, cross-product information, observed information, and sandwich-type covariance matrices (denoted by W_d, W_XPD, W_Obs, and W_Sw, respectively) for DIF detection. The results showed that (1) the W_XPD and LR methods had the best performance in controlling Type I error rates among the six methods investigated in this study and (2) under the uniform DIF condition, when the item quality was high or medium, the power of W_XPD, W_Obs , and W_Sw was comparable with or superior to that of MH and LR, but when the item quality was low, W_XPD, W_Obs, and W_Sw were less powerful than MH and LR. Under the nonuniform DIF condition, the power of W_XPD, W_Obs, and W_Sw was comparable with or higher than that of MH and LR.

This paper explores how personality factors affect substance use disorders (SUDs) using explanatory item response modeling (EIRM). A total of 606 Chinese illicit drug users participated in our study. After removing the cases with missing values on the covariate measures, a final sample of 573 participants was used for data analysis. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) was used to measure the illicit drug users’ SUD level. Four personality factors–anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, sensation seeking and hopelessness–along with gender and alcohol use were included in EIRM as person covariates. The results indicated that gender, alcohol use, and their interaction significantly predicted the SUD level. The only personality factor that strongly predicted the SUD level was sensation seeking. In addition, the interaction between gender and hopelessness was also found to be a significant predictor of the SUD level, indicating that the negative effect of hopelessness on SUD is stronger for women than for men. The findings suggest that sensation seeking plays an important role in influencing SUDs, and thus, it should be considered when designing intervention or screening procedures for potential illicit drug users. In addition, several DSM-5 SUD symptoms were found to exhibit differential effects by gender, alcohol use, and personality factors. The possible explanations were discussed.

Social media fatigue (SMF), which refers to social media users’ tendency to withdraw from social media because of feeling overwhelmed, is closely related to individuals’ social life and well-being. Many studies focused on understanding SMF and exploring its enablers and influences. However, few pieces of research administered a standard measurement of SMF. This study aimed to develop and validate a measure of SMF, and a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1599 participants in total. Semi-structured interviews of 30 participants were firstly conducted as a pilot study, and an initial version of the social media fatigue scale (SMFS) with 24 items was generated. Then, both exploratory factor analysis (N = 509) and confirmatory factor analysis (N = 552) as well as reliability and validity analysis (N = 508) were conducted and a 15-item SMFS was finally developed. The results demonstrated that: 1) SMF was a multi-dimension concept including a cognitive aspect, an emotional aspect and a behavioral aspect; 2) the three-dimensional structure of the SMFS (cognitive-behavioral-emotional structure) fitted the data well; 3) the McDonald’s Omega coefficients for the SMFS was 0.83, suggesting that the SMFS was reliable; 4) criterion validity was satisfactory as indicated by both the significant correlations between self-rated scores of fatigue and total SMFS scores and the significant regression model of SMF on social media privacy, social media confidence, and negative feeling after comparison. Based on the Limited Capacity Model, the present study expanded SMF from a unidimensional model to a three-dimension model, and developed a 15-item SMFS. The study enriched the existing knowledge of SMF, and coined a reliable and valid tool for measuring it. Besides, concluding the typical characteristics of SMF, the study may provide some inspiration for both researchers and social media managers and operators in mitigating SMF.

The current study focuses on developing the learning progression of number sense for primary school students, and it applies a cognitive diagnostic model, the rule space model, to data analysis. The rule space model analysis firstly extracted nine cognitive attributes and their hierarchy model from the analysis of previous research and the mathematics textbook used in Beijing. A cognitive diagnostic test for number sense was then developed based upon the cognitive attributes. Finally, the model was used to analyse a sample of 1207 Chinese primary school students’ observed item responses to identify their knowledge states and to validate and modify the hypothesised learning progression. The results showed that the test was of good psychometric quality, and that the hypothesised learning progression was generally validated. By applying the rule space model, the hypothesised learning progression was modified at each level. The results also showed that students in grade 3, grade 4 and grade 5 were mai...

An alarming number of students drop out of junior high school in developing countries. In this study, we examine the impacts of providing a social–emotional learning (SEL) program on the dropout behavior and learning anxiety of students in the first two years of junior high. We do so by analyzing data from a randomized controlled trial involving 70 junior high schools and 7,495 students in rural China. After eight months, the SEL program reduces dropout by 1.6 percentage points and decreases learning anxiety by 2.3 percentage points. Effects are no longer statistically different from zero after 15 months, perhaps due to decreasing student interest in the program. However, we do find that the program reduces dropout among students at high risk of dropping out (older students and students with friends who have already dropped out), both after eight and 15 months of exposure to the SEL program.

This study investigated the effects of social-emotional competency on pupils' academic achievement, academic emotions and attitudes, and interpersonal relationships. Participants were 7106 fourth-grade and fifth-grade students in western China. The results were: (1) social-emotional competency positively predicted pupils' academic achievement (including reading, mathematics, and science); (2) social-emotional competency predicted pupils' academic emotions and attitudes, including learning anxiety and interest, and academic emotions and attitudes played a mediating role in the relation between social-emotional competency and academic achievement; and (3) social-emotional competency positively predicted pupils' interpersonal relationships, including peer relationships and teacher-student relationships, and interpersonal relationships played a mediating role in the relation between social-emotional competency and academic achievement. These findings highlighted the importance of social-emotional competency to child development in western China, where many children might lack their parents' company.

The performance of the limited-information statistic M2 for diagnostic classification models (DCMs) is under-investigated in the current literature. Specifically, the investigations of M2 for specific DCMs rather than general modeling frameworks are needed. This article aims to demonstrate the usefulness of M2 in hierarchical diagnostic classification models (HDCMs). The performance of M2 in evaluating the fit of HDCMs was investigated in the presence of four types of attribute hierarchies. Two simulation studies were conducted to examine Type I error rates and statistical power of M2 under different simulation conditions, respectively. The findings suggest acceptable Type I error rates control of M2 as well as high statistical power under the conditions of a Q-matrix misspecification and the DINA model misspecification. The data of Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English (ECPE) were used to empirically illustrate the suitability of M2 in practice.

There has been debate regarding the factor structure of the Children's Coping Strategies Scale (CCSS); in most previous studies there were different subscales, representing coping strategies. However, according to the theoretically multidimensional construct of coping, coping consists of an adaptive process and uses the lowest possible level of coping strategy. Accordingly, this study applies a new method of multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) to testing the latent structure of teenagers’ coping strategies and to improve the construct validity of the CCSS. The participants were 1,138 16-year-old high school students (48.2% female, 51.8% male) studying arts and science. This study compares three different model types: a unidimensional model, a simple multidimensional construct model, and a bifactor model. The results indicate that the latent structure of CCSS is not only described by specific coping strategies (e.g., rumination) but also by a general adaptation process, which is consistent with theoretical understandings of coping. Furthermore, the five-factor model, which contains a “reflection” dimension, is more suitable for Chinese teenagers.

In the past decades, the longitudinal approach has been remarkably and increasingly used in the investigations of children's cognitive development. Recently, many researchers have started to realize the importance and necessity of examining measurement invariance for any further longitudinal analysis. However, there are few empirical studies demonstrating how to conduct further analysis when the assumption of measurement invariance of an instrument is violated. The primary purpose of this study is to explore how a newly-developed calibrated projection method can be applied to reduce the impact of lack of parameter invariance in a longitudinal study of preschool children's cognitive development. The sample consisted of 882 children from China who participated in two waves of the cognitive tests when they were 4 and 5 years old. Before this study was conducted, the IRT method was used to examine the measurement invariance of the instrument. The results showed that five items presented difficulty parameter drift and three items presented discrimination/slope parameter drift. In the study, the invariant items were treated as "common items" and calibrated projection linking was used to establish a comparable scale across two time points. Then the linking method was evaluated by three properties: grade-to-grade growth, grade-to-grade variability, and the separation of distributions. The results showed that the grade-to-grade growth across two waves was larger and exhibited a larger effect size; the grade-to-grade variability showed less scale shrinkage, which indicated a smaller measurement error; the separation of distributions showed a larger growth as well.

In spite of the growing interest in the methods of evaluating the classification consistency (CC) indices, only few researches are available in the field of applying these methods in the practice of large-scale educational assessment. In addition, only few studies considered the influence of practical factors, for example, the examinee ability distribution, the cut score location and the score scale, on the performance of CC indices. Using the newly developed Lee's procedure based on the item response theory (IRT), the main purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of CC indices when practical factors are taken into consideration. A simulation study and an empirical study were conducted under comprehensive conditions. Results suggested that with negatively skewed distribution, the CC indices were larger than with other distributions. Interactions occurred among ability distribution, cut score location, and score scale. Consequently, Lee's IRT procedure is reliable to be used in the field of large-scale educational assessment, and when reporting the indices, it should be treated with caution as testing conditions may vary a lot.

A local equating method of cognitively diagnostic modeled observed score was introduced to address the problem of equating without anchor test as well as the satisfaction of equating criteria. The criterion of test construct was redefined on attribute level. Then, a true family of equating transformations given attribute mastery pattern was derived from the criterion of equity, which is the main concern of local equating. The results of simulation studies showed a substantial bias for the traditional equipercentile equating under the equivalent groups design but much smaller bias for the local method. The proposed method also showed satisfactory performances under the nonequivalent groups design even without anchor test. The local method appeared to be quite robust with respect to changes in the sample size, but its biases became larger with increasing model misfit.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the developmental trajectory and patterns of physical aggression and relational aggression over time, and also to examine the gender differences of the three-year developmental process as well as the impact of the developmental trajectory on mental health.Design/methodology/approach– Participants: the participants of this study were newly enrolled junior school students. The study spanned three years with continuous tracking performed once every other year. Measures: class play questionnaire. Aggressive behaviors were measured by an adaptive Chinese version of the revised class play assessment. Statistical analysis: to address the questions of the present study, the latent class growth model (LCGM) was used to analyze the three-year longitudinal data by Mplus 6.1.Findings– The initial level of physical aggression in boys was higher than that in girls. There were three types of developmental trajectory for boys, corresponding to a lower initial level-increasing group, a middle initial level-increasing group and a higher initial level-stable group. However, girls demonstrated different patterns, corresponding to a lower initial level-increasing group, a middle initial level-increasing group and a higher initial level-decreasing group. In contrast to the physical aggression, the initial level of relational aggression in boys was lower than that in girls. There were four types of developmental trajectory for boys, corresponding to a lower initial level-increasing group, a middle initial level-increasing group, a middle initial level-declining group and a higher initial level-declining group. Girls illustrated different patterns, corresponding to a lower initial level-stable group, a middle initial level-increasing group and a higher initial level-declining group. Different developmental trajectory of physical and relational aggression would influence the interpersonal relationship.Originality/value– This paper used a person-centered latent variable approach instead of the variable-centered approach to investigate the developmental trajectory and patterns of physical aggression and relational aggression over three year by employing the LCGM. The initial level of physical aggression in boys was higher than that in girls. In contrast, the initial level of relational aggression in boys was lower than that in girls. There were gender differences in the pattern of physical and relational aggression development trajectory. Different developmental trajectory of physical and relational aggression would influence the interpersonal relationship.

Two widely used scales of Internet addiction (IA), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS), were compared and a new scale of IA was assembled from their items with improved reliability in terms of classification consistency. A total of 467 Chinese college students participated in the study. Items were calibrated using the Muraki's Generalized Partial Credit Model. Most items had higher item information on medium levels of addiction, but much lower item information on the two ends of the latent trait continuum. The average item information of the CIAS was significantly larger compared with IAT on most of the latent trait levels. A new scale assembled using the cutoff points of IAT had a larger classification consistency than the original IAT. It was shown that the classification consistency of the IA measurement could be improved by selecting items to optimize test information around cutoff points. Implications for test and item development of IA were discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine parents’ perceived social change and its relations with adolescents’ reports of childrearing attitudes in urban and rural China. The participants were high school students and their parents in a Northern region of China. Parents completed a measure of perceived social change, and the adolescents completed a measure of childrearing attitudes including parental warmth, control, and encouragement of independence. The results indicated that urban parents had higher scores than rural parents on major dimensions of perceived social change including work-related opportunities, self-improvement in work, and high-tech experiences. Urban adolescents reported lower parental control and higher parental encouragement of independence than rural adolescents. In addition, parents’ reports of opportunities and prospects were positively associated with adolescents’ reports of parental warmth and encouragement of independence in childrearing across the urban and rural groups, suggesting that parents who perceived more challenges and opportunities to pursue self-advancement and personal career goals were more likely to support the use of warm and sensitive parenting and to encourage their children to develop independent behaviors. The results indicated the implications of social change for socialization and adolescent development in Chinese context.

Lacosamide ((R)-2-acetamido-N-benzyl-3-methoxypropionamide; formerly harkoseride, SPM 927; Vimpat), has been recently approved by US and European regulatory authorities for use as add-on therapy for partial-onset seizures in adults. Because a number of anti-epileptic drugs are used to treat conditions beyond epilepsy, including anxiety, in the present study we investigated the anxiolytic potential of lacosamide in a conditioned emotional response (CER) model in rat, and the mouse marble burying assay. In each test lacosamide produced a significant effect consistent with anxiolysis, i.e. lacosamide increased suppression ratio in the CER test, and reduced the number of marbles buried in the marble burying assay. The doses necessary for an anxiolytic effect were higher than those necessary for efficacy in seizure tests conducted in the same species. For example in the mouse, the lacosamide oral ED(50) in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) and 6 Hz tests was 5.3 and 9.6 mg/kg respectively, and the minimal effective dose in the marble burying assay was 30 mg/kg. In both seizure and anxiety tests, the (S)-enantiomer of lacosamide was inactive suggesting a similar mechanism of action, possibly use-dependent inhibition of sodium channel function (Errington et al., 2008). Efficacy in the CER model was equivalent to diazepam and pregabalin (Lyrica). In tests of side-effects, lacosamide had no effect on choice accuracy in the delayed match to position task of working memory, although at the 30 mg/kg dose, response rates and response latencies were significantly affected. In sum, the present results identify for the first time, an anxiolytic potential of lacosamide.

Asian Americans are commonly perceived as the diligent and high-achieving “model minority.” This positive stereotype has negative consequences for this ethnic minority group because it trivializes their social and mental health problems. This image of success has made many overlook the true nature of the struggles many Asian American families have to face in the United States. Scientific literature suggests that Asian American children experience major adjustment problems in school including loneliness, isolation, withdrawal, rejection, anxiety, low self-esteem, and interpersonal distress. Cultural barriers exist between the Asian and the dominant society and influence Asian Americans' cognitive appraisal and coping choices when personal and emotional problems arise. These barriers also prevent clinicians from identifying and subsequently providing effective mental health services for Asian American children and their families. In this article, the authors examine the Asian cultural conceptions of mental health and various cultural barriers in an attempt to promote cultural understanding and competence among clinicians working with Asian American children and their families. Recommendations for clinical practice and future research directions are provided. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The topic of teacher credentials and student performance is revisited in an international setting using the TIMSS-99 data. The lack of consistent positive link between credentials and performance can be explained via three routes: measurement problem of “teacher quality” input, measurement problem of “student outcomes”, and the production function form that is assumed to link the input and the output. Although there is a small literature focusing on student outcome measurement problems, suggesting the use of cognitive achievements rather than test scores, in most cases those cognitive measures are nothing but math and science scores. This study contributes to the literature by borrowing from the measurement and psychometrics theories to decompose single scores into three categories of cognitive abilities. The hypothesis is that teachers may play a crucial role in the development of some student cognitive skills while not in the others. Using a “rule-space” model, this article identifies three cognitive skills: the process skill, the reading skill and the mathematical think skill. The study finds that: (1) in general teacher credentials have no effect on any type of cognitive skill development as well as on the test score, and (2) the within-teacher variance of student performance is much larger than between-teacher variance in Japan and Korea, whereas the reverse is true in the US and the Netherlands. The phenomenon of “private tutoring” is quoted as an explanation of this pattern.

Guided by Perry and Weinstein's (1998) conceptual model of school adjustment, first-generation Chinese-American adolescents' school adjustment was compared with that of Mainland Chinese and European American adolescents in two domains of functioning, academic (attitudes to school and teacher; their sense of academic adequacy) and behavioral (depression, anxiety and social stress), using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC). Results indicated that Chinese-American adolescents reported more negative attitudes toward teachers than European American and Mainland Chinese students, had more negative perceptions of the school environment than students in Mainland China, and reported more feelings of inadequacy in academics than European American students. Chinese-American adolescents reported higher levels of depression and social stress than the other two groups, and more anxiety than Mainland Chinese students. Feelings of academic inadequacy were related to depression, anxiety and social stress for all three cultural groups. In addition, Chinese-American adolescents reported that they did not trust their teachers and their peers who were not Chinese-American, and felt that adults at school and home did not understand them. This feeling coupled with their fear, anger and frustration at being bullied frequently in school could be related to Chinese-American adolescents' negative perception of school and teachers. Implications of the study are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 71–84, 2003.

This study examined the structure of self-reported problem behaviors in Mainland Chinese children. Third grade (n = 3011) and fifth grade (n = 3708) students completed a 20-item Problem Behavior Frequency Checklist (PBFC). Findings suggested that among the four factors studied (physical aggression, substance use, delinquency, and self-centered behaviors), self-centered behaviors and physical aggression were reported most frequently by the Chinese elementary school children. Furthermore, boys had higher prevalence rates of problem behaviors than girls. Developmental differences were also present. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a model that included specific factors related to substance use, physical aggression, delinquency, and self-centered behaviors. Therefore, the single factor conceptualization in which different types of problem behaviors are hypothesized to reflect a single underlying common factor may not hold for this population. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 19–33, 2003.

The discipline of psychology is emerging as a recognized and respected profession in China. This is perhaps due to the need to address children’s increased difficulties in academic and social functioning. Nevertheless, psychologists are still rare with most services being conducted by medical personnel. However, a number of university psychology programs, such as school psychology and clinical service centres, are being formed as a result of the need to provide psychological services to school-aged children. The development of school psychology in China parallels that of the United States where practice was originally conducted by individuals not formally trained specifically as school psychologists. The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of school psychology in China.

Background:The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) was developed to assess anxiety in older adults. The objectives of this work were as follows: (a) to analyze the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the GAI (GAI-CV), and (b) to explore the extent of anxiety and related factors in the elderly Chinese residents of Beijing.Methods:Participants in this study included 1,047 people (59.4% female) more than 60 years old who were living in the community. They were randomly selected from 15 communities in Beijing. Basic information was collected. Anxiety was measured using the GAI-CV, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).Results:The GAI-CV exhibited good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.94) and demonstrated good concurrent validity against the SAS (r = 0.52, p = 0.018) and the BAI (r = 0.560, p = 0.000). Item response theory (IRT) analyses showed that the items of the GAI-CV exhibited high difficulty (0.97–2) and discrimination parameters (1.91–5.33). The items exhibited information parameters greater than 1.25 with the exceptions of items 2, 12, and 18. The GAI-CV scores were significantly associated with gender, age, and chronic disease. However, no significant differences due to marriage or education were found.Conclusions:The GAI is a new scale that was specifically designed to measure anxiety in older people. The results of this study suggest that the GAI-CV had good psychometric properties, but some items need to be modified. IRT analyses indicated that the GAI-CV provided good measures of anxiety across the moderately high to very high levels. The GAI-CV may be a useful instrument for further research studies aimed at analyzing high-level anxiety among older adults in China.

International audience; RATIONALE: Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have been available for many years; yet, new members of this class continue to be identified and developed due to the limitations of existing drugs, which include a propensity for cognitive impairment. However, there is little preclinical information about the cognitive effects they produce, which clinically include deficits in attention and slowing of reaction time. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to profile two first-generation AEDs, phenytoin and valproate, and three second-generation AEDs, levetiracetam, pregabalin and lacosamide. Initially, each drug was examined across a range of well characterised preclinical seizure tests, and then each drug was evaluated in the five-choice serial reaction time test (5-CSRTT) based on efficacious doses from the seizure tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Each AED was tested for anti-seizure efficacy in either (1) the maximal electroshock seizure test, (2) s.c. PTZ seizure test, (3) amygdala-kindled seizures and (4) the genetic absence epilepsy rat of Strasbourg model of absence seizures. On completion of these studies, each drug was tested in rats trained to asymptotic performance in the 5-CSRTT (0.5 s SD, 5 s ITI, 100 trials). Male rats were used in all studies. RESULTS: Each AED was active in at least one of the seizure tests, although only valproate was active in each test. In the 5-CSRT test, all drugs with the exception of levetiracetam, significantly slowed reaction time and increased omissions. Variable effects were seen on accuracy. The effect on omissions was reversed by increasing stimulus duration from 0.5 to 5 s, supporting a drug-induced attention deficit. Levetiracetam had no negative effect on performance; indeed, reaction time was slightly increased (i.e. faster). CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight somewhat similar effects of phenytoin, valproate, pregabalin and lacosamide on attention and reaction time, and comparison to efficacious doses from the seizure tests support the view that there may be a better separation with the newer AEDs. Levetiracetam had no detrimental effect in the 5-CSRTT, which may be consistent with clinical experience where the drug is considered to be well tolerated amongst the AED class.