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Background: International research has established that children and adolescents are at high risk for being exposed to violence. A systematic review published in 2023 recommended six child and adolescent self-report violence against children (VAC) measures, based on their psychometric properties, in a systematic COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) review. However, the degree of overlap and heterogeneity was not part of the analysis. Objective: To compare the six measures with respect to item overlap and differences concerning specification of exposure dimensions. Method: A content analysis of the original 174 items resulted in a reduction to 38 unique items. These items were organized visually in a co-occurrence circle using an adapted version of Fried's R code. Furthermore, a pairwise comparison of event lists was performed using the Jaccard index. Results: There was a modest overlap among the six measures. Only one item was present in all six measures, only two items were present in four measures, and 78% of the items were present in just one or two measures. The overall overlap between the six measures was 25%. Conclusions: The lack of overlap among measures reflects a heterogeneity of definitions and purposes. It also impedes progress in research, as comparisons between various studies are difficult to make in a valid and reliable way. The lack of consensus also delays efficient political initiatives, because solid, consensual knowledge about the prevalence of VAC does not exist.

The aim of the study was to conduct a first validation of three field practice experience scales intended to measure students' opportunities to learn through observation of other teachers, own practice and feedback on own practice of 12 key teaching activities while in field practice placement as part of teacher education programs. The scales were translated and adapted from the elementary teaching candidate survey from the Development of Ambitious Instruction project. Items were adapted to refer to the teaching subject students were training in, and the response scale was modified. A four-step translation-back-translation strategy was used, and subsequently the Danish and a Norwegian and Icelandic translations were mutually adjusted for meaning to facilitate later cross-Nordic studies. Participants were 345 Danish students in the teacher education program from one university college, who had been in at least one field practice placement. Data were collected using a targeted online survey during one month immediately following field placement. Data was analysed using the Rasch model. Each of the three field experience scales fitted a Rasch model, with no evidence against overall homogeneity of scores for low versus high scoring students, local dependence between items, or DIF in relation to level of field practice, campus, type of teacher education program, gender or age. Reliability of each scale was excellent for most subgroups, while the targeting of the scales to the study sample was not very good, as there were too few teaching activities occurring rarely during field practice (i.e. too few difficult items). For all three scales there were significant differences in mean scores dependent on level of field practice placement. Thus, while the scales should be expanded to get better coverage of students' opportunities to learn in relation to all the core teaching activities present in that are to be trained in the field practice placement, the very good psychometric properties of the three scales, shows promise for future research., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ) assesses Thwarted Belongingness (TB) and Perceived Burdensomeness (PB), two predictors of suicidal thoughts. Up to now, the use of item response theory (IRT) for the evaluation of the INQ has been restricted to a single study with clinically depressed and suicidal youth. Therefore, the psychometric properties of the two INQ-15-subscales TB and PB were now evaluated in a general population sample (N = 2508) and a clinical adult population sample (N = 185) using IRT, specifically the Rasch model (RM) and the graphical log-linear Rasch model (GLLRM). Of special interest was whether the INQ-subscales displayed differential item functioning (DIF) across the two different samples and how well the subscales were targeted to the two sample populations. For the clinical sample, fit to a GLLRM could be established for the PB-subscale and fit to a RM was established for a five-item version of the TB-subscale. In contrast, for the general population sample fit to a GLLRM could only be achieved for the PB-subscale. Overall, there was strong evidence of local dependence (LD) across items and of some age- and gender-related DIF. Both subscales exhibited massive DIF related to the sample, indicating that they don't work the same across the general population and clinical sample. As expected, targeting of both INQ-subscales was much better for the clinical population. Further investigations of the INQ-15 under the Rasch approach in a large clinical population are recommended to determine and optimize the scale performance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The Parental Stress Scale (PSS) was developed as a short measure of perceived stress resulting from being a parent. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Danish version in a sample of 1110 mothers of children aged 0 to 12 months using Rasch models. Emphasis was placed on the issues of uni-dimensionality and absence of differential item functioning relative to the age and educational level of the mothers. Results showed that no adequate fit could be established for the full PSS scale with 18 dichotomized items. Further analyses showed that items 2 and 11 had to be eliminated from the scale, and that the remaining items did not make up a unidimensional PSS scale, but two subscales measuring different aspect of parental stress: a 9-item scale measuring parental stress and a 7-item scale measuring lack of parental satisfaction. Fit to the Rasch model could not be established for any of the two subscales. For the parental stress subscale, we found evidence of local dependence for four item pairs (3 and 4, 9 and 10, 10 and 16, 12 and 16), as well as evidence of two items functioning differentially: item 16 relative to level of education, and item 3 relative to both age and educational level. For the lack of parental satisfaction subscale, we found evidence of local dependence between some two pairs (1 and 17, 17 and 18), but no evidence of differential item functioning. Both subscales fit graphical loglinear Rasch models adjusting for local dependence and differential item functioning. Plotting the adjusted subscale scores against one another showed that the two-scale solution provides additional information, as some mothers are stressed but not lacking in parental satisfaction., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The relevance of academic self-efficacy for educational outcomes is well documented. Pre-academic self-efficacy has hardly been studied, and only one study was found to include an assessment of the measurement invariance of the scale used. The aims were to validate the Pre-Academic Learning Self-Efficacy (PAL-SE) scale in a non-university higher education context, and assess the psychometric properties of the scale using Rasch measurement models, and to determine whether PAL-SE differs across groups of students admitted to multiple degree programs. Data consisted of 3757 students admitted to 22 different Academy Profession Degree programs in the Danish higher education context. The PAL-SE scale was found to have locally dependent items and to be affected by differential item functioning relative to age groups and degree programs. Reliability and targeting varied across degree programs. PAL-SE scores adjusted for differential item functioning differed across degree programs.

Given the importance of competencies in functional behavior assessment (FBA) and behavioral interventions among teachers for managing problem behaviors among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities, a previously reported ability in behavior assessment and interventions for teachers (ABAIT) needed improvements in the multiple-choices by adding a 'don't know' option. This study reports on the psychometric properties of this revised scale (ABAIT-R) among 102 special educators assessed using Rasch models. It was found that the model had good fit and a wide spread of difficulties (3.63 to - 2.60). ABAIT-R had good targeting (over 85%) and high reliability (0.79). The assumptions of the model were met recommending sufficiency for the use of summated score from ABAIT-R among teachers.

Academic self-efficacy is mostly construed as specific; task-specific, course-specific or domain-specific. Previous research in the Danish university context has shown that the self-efficacy subscale in the Motivated Strategies for Leaning Questionnaire is not a single scale, but consists of two separate course- and activity-specific scales; the Specific Academic Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (SAL-SE) and the Specific Academic Exam Self-efficacy scale (SAE-SE). The SAL-SE and the SAE-SE subscales have previously been found to fit the Rasch model, have excellent reliability, and initial evidence of criterion validity has been established. The aim of this study was to conduct a new validity study of the SAL-SE and SAE-SE scales in the Danish university context. Specifically, whether the original findings of fit to the Rasch model, as well as the other psychometric properties of the scales could be replicated for a sample enrolled in another course context, as well as additional criterion validity. The sample consisted of 341 Psychology students enrolled in a first-semester statistics course. Results showed that the SAL-SE scale fit the Rasch model, while the SAE-SE scale did not as two items were locally dependent, reliability was excellent, and both SAL-SE and SAE-SE levels were positively related to final statistics grades.

The study is a first validity study investigating the psychometric properties of the Danish translation of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation subscales of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire in a higher education context. Rasch family measurement models were employed emphasizing unidimensionality, local independence of items, and differential item functioning (DIF). The sample consisted of three consecutive year-cohorts of BA psychology students in a second semester course on personality psychology (N = 590). Results showed Intrinsic Motivation (IM) and Extrinsic Motivation (EM) to be separate subscales, weakly and negatively correlated. Neither subscale fit the pure Rasch model, but departures could be adjusted for in graphical loglinear Rasch models (GLLRMs): the IM fit a GLLRM adjusted for age-DIF on one item and local dependence between two items; the EM fit a GLLRM with local dependence between two items. Targeting of the subscales was good. Reliability was good for the EM subscale and, for the oldest students, on the IM subscale. Failure to adjust the IM score for the DIF discovered would lead to a Type I error, and future research should address this issue, as the other studies located showed (possibly spurious) age differences in the same direction as the unadjusted results in this study.

Field practice placements contribute substantially to students' gradual attainment and final mastery of the skills of the teaching profession. The aim of this study was to adapt the Danish consensus translation of the PSS-10 to assess perceived stress during field practice placements of varying durations and to investigate its validity for use with student teachers in field practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected upon completion of 6 weeks of a field placement at one of three levels (N = 359), and grades from the field practice exam were obtained. To resolve any issues with differential item functioning and lack of item independence, graphical loglinear Rasch models were used. Criterion validity was investigated in relation to the level of field practice and subsequent grades. The results showed that items 10 and 4 had to be eliminated; both subscales had locally dependent items, and one item in the perceived lack of control subscale functioned differentially relative to the level of field practice placement. Criteria expectations were confirmed, though not all were significant. The psychometric properties of the adapted PSS-10 were in line with previous findings on the original PSS-10 subscales. Score levels can be used as benchmarks in post-COVID-19 studies of student teachers' field-practice-related perceived stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KIDSCREEN-10 is a generic instrument for measuring global health-related quality of life among 8-18-year-old children and adolescents. This study examines the criterion-related construct validity and psychometric properties of the Danish language version of the KIDSCREEN-10 using Rasch models. A further aim was to construct Danish norms based on the resulting person parameter estimates from the Rasch models. Data consists of a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 8171 children in the 5th to 8th grade of primary school in Denmark. No adequate fit to the Rasch model or a graphical loglinear Rasch model could be established for the KIDSCREEN-10 in the full sample of children (n = 8171). Results based on analyses with increasing samples sizes showed that even with the smallest sample item 3 (Kid3) of the KIDSCREEN-10 did not fit the Rasch model. After elimination of Kid3, substantial local dependence and differential item functioning relative to gender and grade level was still present. Already with a sample size of 630 fit to the Rasch model or a graphical loglinear Rasch model adjusting for local dependence and differential item functioning was not established. Therefore, generation of Danish norms was not realizable, as this requires valid sum scores and estimates of the person parameters for an adequate number of cases. Thus, the Danish language version of the child/adolescent self-report KIDSCREEN-10 questionnaire cannot be recommended for use in population-level studies. Neither can use in small sample be recommended as adjustment for differential item functioning and local dependence is ambiguous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ICD-11 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD diagnoses have been examined in several studies using the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ). The cross-cultural validity of the ITQ has not previously been studied using item responses theory methods focused on the issue of equal item functioning and thus comparability of scores across language groups. Objective: To investigate the cross-cultural validity of the ITQ scales considering specifically local independence of items and differential item functioning (DIF) in a cross-cultural sample of refugees. Method: Data from 490 treatment-seeking refugees were included, covering Danish, Arabic, and Bosnian languages and different levels of interpreter-assisted administration. Rasch and graphical log-linear Rasch models were used. Results: There was strong local dependence among items from the same symptom clusters in the PTSD and disorders in self-organization (DSO) scales, except between affective dysregulation items. Weak local dependence was discovered between an item from the affective dysregulation cluster and an item from the disturbed relationship cluster. There was no evidence of DIF related to language or interpreter assistance. There was evidence of DIF for two PTSD items relative to gender and time since the traumatic event. The targeting of the scales to the study population was not optimal. Reliability varied from 0.55 to 0.78 for subgroups. Conclusions: The PTSD and the DSO scales have stable psychometric properties across the Danish, Arabic, and Bosnian language versions and different levels of assisted administration. Scores are comparable across these groups. However, DIF relative to gender and time since trauma introduces considerable measurement bias. DIF-adjusted summed scale scores or estimated person parameters should be used to avoid measurement bias. Future research should investigate whether scales including more and/or alternative items that require higher levels of PTSD and DSO to be endorsed will improve targeting and measurement precision for refugee populations. A first cross-cultural validity study of the ITQ using IRT. PTSD and DSO subscales functioned invariantly across Danish, Arabic, and Bosnian, and also across degrees of interpreter assistance. Two PTSD items did not function invariantly across gender and time since trauma. The Danish, Arabic, and Bosnian ITQ can be used for screening treatment-seeking refugees, taking into account the item bias in the PTSD subscale, and suboptimal targeting and reliability, which require extensions or modification of items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress in higher education students is an issue of growing concern, as stress impacts quality of life and has been linked to drop-out from higher education. The aim was to investigate how stress was related to how far along students were in their degree program, using the Spanish Perceived Stress Scale (PSS10). We expected 1) first-year education students to experience more perceived lack of control than second-year students, 2) second-year students to experience more perceived stress than first-year students. Participants were students in three university education-degree programs (N = 399). The psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress (PS) and Perceived Lack of Control (PLC) subscales were investigated using Rasch models. One item was eliminated from each subscale. The estimated interval-level Rasch scores were utilized for testing hypotheses with general linear models. Results showed a somewhat more complex pattern than predicted as interaction effects between degree year and gender and between degree year and basis for admission were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of this study was to conduct a cross‐cultural comparison of the level of critical thinking of Danish and Spanish psychology students (N = 788) attending innately different bachelor‐level courses; personality psychology and introductory statistics/research methods. Several instruments are available for the assessment of critical thinking (CTh), but most are, however, unsuitable for use in large surveys with many constructs, due to length or single‐person administration formats. One brief and much‐used scale is the CTh scale in the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), used in this study. To ensure unbiased comparisons across countries and courses, our secondary aim was to investigate the content validity, as well as the psychometric properties, of the CTh scale to ensure the most accurate and unbiased comparison. For this purpose, Rasch and graphical loglinear Rasch models were used. After reducing the number of items due to content validity issues, the CTh scale fitted Rasch models within each national sample, and was measurement invariant relative to age group, gender, course and university. In the cross‐cultural item analysis, two items functioned differentially relative to nationality, and the scale fitted a graphical loglinear Rasch model. CTh scores related to introductory statistics/research methods courses differed significantly from scores related to personality psychology, for Danish students only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Børge Priens Prøve (BPP) was developed for the Danish Army by psychologist Børge Prien in the 1950s, as a test of general cognitive ability for use at conscription for the Danish armed forces. The final BPP (1957) had four subtests; a Raven‐like matrix subtest, and three subtests measuring verbal, numerical, and visuospatial ability. The BPP is a speeded test counting the number of correct responses within 45 minutes. Thus, we consider the BPP as a measure of "cognitive efficiency" rather than a pure measure of cognitive ability. The BPP is still in use.Using techniques available in 1960, Rasch concluded that the matrices and numerical tests appeared to satisfy the requirements of the Rasch (Probabilistic models for some intelligence and attainment tests, Danish Institute for Educational Research, Copenhagen; 1960) model, while the verbal and visuospatial tests did not. Since then, there have been, to our knowledge, no published studies of the psychometric scaling properties of the BPP, partly because the practice of the Danish draft board has been to record only the total score. We examine these properties by analysis of data from two cohorts (n = 9,491), using the Leunbach (A probabilistic measurement model for assessing whether two tests measure the same personal factor. The Danish Institute of Educational, Copenhagen, Denmark; 1976) model to assess whether the sum of the four subtests provides a statistically sufficient measure of a common latent trait. Since we found only weak evidence against fit to the Leunbach model, we claim that this warrants the use of a summarized total BPP score. We examined whether BPP subscales suffered from differential test functioning (DTF) relative to samples. Weak, and for practical purposes too weak, DTF was suggested for one subscale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-efficacy is an important and much used construct in psychology and social science studies. The validity of the measurements used is not always sufficiently evaluated. The aim was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Danish translation of the self-efficacy subscale of The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ-SE) within a higher education context. Rasch measurement models were employed focusing on measurement invariance and dimensionality. Results with one students sample showed the MSLQ-SE to be not one, but two separate unidimensional subscales, measuring specific academic learning self-efficacy (SAL-SE) and specific academic exam self-efficacy (SAE-SE), each scale being measurement invariant relative to age, Gender, admission method and specific course targeted. Furthermore, significant and relevant differences between the SAL-SE and SAE-SE scores dependent on university and admission method were found, and these results were replicated with two further samples. The SAL-SE and SAE-SE scales hold promise for more detailed studies of student self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychological alienation is an important concept in the study of adolescents' health and behavior but no gold standard for measuring alienation among adolescents exists. There is a need for new scales with high validity for use in adolescent health and social research. The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate alienation scales in accordance with Seeman's conceptualization of alienation focusing on three independent variants specifically relevant in adolescent health research: powerlessness, meaninglessness and social isolation. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 3083 adolescents aged 13 to 15 years from the Danish contribution to the cross-national study Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) were used. We identified and developed items, addressed content and face validity through interviews, and examined the criterion-related construct validity of the scales using graphical loglinear Rasch models (GLLRM). Results: The three scales each comprised three to five face valid items. The powerlessness scale reflected the adolescent's expectancy as to whether his/her behavior can determine the outcome or reinforcement he/she seeks. The meaninglessness scale reflected the expectancy as to whether satisfactory predictions regarding the effects of one's behavior are possible. Finally, the social isolation scale reflected whether the adolescent had a low expectancy for inclusion and social acceptance. All scales contained some uniform local dependency and differential item functioning. However, only to a limited degree, which could be accounted for using GLLRM. Thus the scales fitted GLLRMs and can therefore be considered to be essentially construct valid and essentially objective. Conclusion: The three alienation scales appear to be content and face valid and fulfill the psychometric properties of a good construct valid reflective scale. This suggests that the scales may be appropriate in future large-scale surveys to examine the relation between alienation and a range of adolescent health outcomes such as health, behavior and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential stressors associated with military deployment are related to an increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes. Perceived exposure to combat has been found to be proportional to the severity of post-deployment posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, other perceived adversities during deployment, such as witnessing danger, distress, and hardship in the war zone, have been less systematically studied, but might play an equally substantial role for post-deployment mental health. The development and validation of scales that assess these related constructs are needed to distinguish their contribution to post-deployment risk of PTSD. We evaluated the validity of 10 items measuring perceived danger distributed to all deployed personnel with the Danish Defense since 1998. We hypothesize two scales: Exposure to Danger and Combat (EDC) and Witnessing Consequences of War (WCW). Two military cohorts deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 (Cohort 1, N = 276) and 2013 (Cohort 2, N = 273) were included. Questionnaire data was collected six months after homecoming, including deployment experiences and post-deployment reactions. We tested the construct validity of the 10 items of perceived danger with Rasch models (RM), focusing specifically on presence of subscales, and differential item functioning (DIF) across cohorts. We confirmed the existence of two separate subscales, EDCS and WCWS, both with adequate reliability. None of the subscales fitted a pure RM, but adequate fit was found for graphical log-linear RMs with evidence of DIF for the ECDS. However, adjusting the score to account for DIF had practically no effect, suggesting that the total non-adjusted mean score can be used in future cohort comparisons. Perceived exposure to combat and danger and witnessing consequences of war are related, but essentially distinct, concepts, each providing unique information about deployment adversities. Future studies should evaluate their shared and unique contribution to the risk of post-deployment PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is a common psychopathological outcome following military deployment. Previous studies have reported differing rates of post-deployment depression, indicating that the toll of war differs across missions. However, it is unclear to what degree the varying prevalence is due methodological differences. Studies comparing rates of depression across cohorts using the same methodology and ensuring measurement invariance are rare, leaving us with limited knowledge on the actual depression prevalence variance across missions. Objective: Applying Rasch models (RM), we aim to validate a measure of depression distributed to all personnel deployed with the Danish Defense since 1998. The main focus was establishing a sufficient sum score and measurement invariance relative to deployment cohort. Method: Two cohorts of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 (ISAF7,N = 265) and 2013 (ISAF15,N = 271) were included. Participants filled out a questionnaire concerning their Psychological Reactions to International Missions (PRIM) approximately seven months after home-coming. The questionnaire included a 10-item scale of depression symptoms (PRIM-Depression). The validity of the PRIM-Depression was tested using RM with specific focus on differential item functioning (DIF) across the two cohorts. Results: The PRIM-Depression scale displayed excellent overall consistency and showed no problems with monotonicity or homogeneity. However, the full PRIM-Depression scale did not fit a pure RM. We therefore tested the fit of items to a graphical log-linear RM and found evidence of DIF for two items relative to cohort. We proceeded without these two items and tested the resulting 8-item version which fitted a pure RM without DIF on any of the exogenous variables. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the 10-item PRIM-Depression scale should be used to compare cohorts only with appropriate score equation. The 8-item version provides a sufficient statistic and can as such be applied using the raw score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) is the predominant questionnaire for assessing PTSD in trauma-affected refugees. Although the scale is increasingly used for measuring treatment outcomes, it has never been specifically validated for such use. The current study does so by testing the HTQ with the Rasch model.Methods: The analysis is based on 641 Arabic and Persian speaking refugees, diagnosed with PTSD and undergoing psychiatric treatment in Denmark. The responses were tested against the assumptions of the Rasch model, including unidimensionality, local independence and the absence of differential item function across subgroups.Results: Results reveal two subscales that, when accounting for local dependence and differential item functioning, meet criteria for the Rasch model in the included samples: An arousal/intrusion subscale and an avoidance/numbing subscale.Limitations: The included sample was highly chronic and suffered from major depressive disorder. Results may not be fully representative of less chronic populations, e.g. recently arrived refugees.Conclusions: We recommend the use of the arousal/intrusion subscale and the avoidance/numbing subscale as an optimized way of summarizing responses to the HTQ, which remains simple to administer while effectively summarizing all the information available in the scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]