Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, 71-84; doi:10.1037/pas0001360

Psychological closeness to preferred suicide methods has consistently been linked to increased suicidal ideation, intent, and behaviors in past research. However, past work was limited by single-item measures. This study presents the development and validation of a multidimensional self-report measure of psychological closeness to preferred suicide methods. Samples of students (n = 489) and community-based adults (n = 278) with current suicidal ideation and/or a lifetime suicide attempt completed a series of self-report measures, including an item pool for the Psychological Closeness to Suicide Methods Scale. The Psychological Closeness to Suicide Methods Scale item pool was reduced from a pool of 54 items to 15 items, across four subscales, that are highly discriminant and of varying levels of difficulty. Measurement invariance was established across suicide attempt history, gender, and race/ethnicity, and convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity were examined. Distinct facets of psychological closeness were uniquely related to current suicidal ideation versus suicide attempt histories. Overall, these findings suggest that the Psychological Closeness to Suicide Methods Scale is a reliable, valid, and incrementally useful measure of multiple dimensions of psychological closeness to suicide methods. Clinical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, 85-99; doi:10.1037/pas0001358

The Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorder (PSCD) is a tool designed to measure psychopathy through its grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, daring-impulsive, and conduct disorder subscales. The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the PSCD’s parent and child self-report versions with a sample of 149 justice-involved youths (55% boys) and their parents (71% mothers) in Iran. Results indicated that both versions of the PSCD confirmed the originally proposed hierarchical four-factor structure. Internal consistency of both PSCD versions’ component scores was satisfactory, and correlations with theoretically related variables supported the PSCD scores’ validity. Also, good to excellent agreement between parent and child PSCD scores were found. The parent-report PSCD scores offered significant incremental validity over the child-version scores in predicting child-reported conduct problems, proactive aggression, and delinquency. Furthermore, both informant versions of the PSCD provided significant added values over an alternate measure of youth psychopathy in predicting externalizing psychopathology. The findings suggest that both versions of the PSCD are useful for assessing psychopathy subscales in Iranian justice-involved adolescents and hold promise for generating further research on this topic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, 100-113; doi:10.1037/pas0001363

Self-concept, which reflects individuals’ overarching views of themselves and their qualities, has been implicated in the development of depression. Studying developmental and sex differences in self-concept between middle childhood and mid-adolescence may speak to the processes by which early self-concept contributes to later depression risk; however, such an understanding requires valid assessment tools. We tested the measurement invariance of a widely used behavioral measure of self-concept, the Self-Referent Encoding Task (SRET), across sex and age from middle childhood (age 6) to mid-adolescence (age 15). Participants (n = 546) were assessed longitudinally four times over a 9-year follow-up at ages 6, 9, 12, and 15. The SRET showed measurement invariance, as well as moderate to high stability, across ages 9–15. Using findings of invariance to inform subsequent analyses of developmental differences in youth self-concept, we found that children’s negative self-concepts became increasingly negative from ages 9 to 15. Children’s positive self-concepts increased from ages 9 to 12 before decreasing to preadolescent levels of positivity from ages 12 to 15. We additionally found measurement invariance of the SRET across sex at ages 9, 12, and 15. No sex invariance was found at age 6. Boys and girls did not differ in positive or negative self-concept at age 9, 12, or 15. We make recommendations for the use of SRET indices in assessing youth self-concept. We also discuss implications for the developmental dynamics of youth self-concept across late childhood and adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, 114-122; doi:10.1037/pas0001357

Vision impairment is common among older adults and affects dementia screening assessments, which include visually presented items. We developed and validated a version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for people with vision impairment that includes all the cognitive domains included in the standard MoCA. Visual components of the MoCA were adapted by developing alternative spoken forms. We used both individual item analysis and item substitution to identify the optimal set of alternative items for inclusion in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for People With Vision Impairment (MoCA-VI) in place of the original items to maximize sensitivity and specificity for dementia. We evaluated the performance and reliability of the final tool, including adjustments for demographic factors. One hundred twenty-eight participants with vision impairment (presenting distance visual acuity worse than 6/12), 79 cognitively healthy and 49 with dementia, completed the adapted MoCA. An additional 86 participants with normal vision completed the standard MoCA and alternative items to assess score equivalence and independence from vision impairment. Twenty-six participants were retested 2–4 weeks after initial testing. With the optimal item set, the final MoCA-VI had an area under the curve of 0.96 (95% CI [0.93, 0.99]). At a cut point of 24 points or less, sensitivity was 95.9%, with a specificity of 92.4%. The intraclass correlation for test–retest reliability was 0.84 (95% CI [0.81, 0.96]). The MoCA-VI is a specific and reliable test for possible dementia among adults with vision impairment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, 123-128; doi:10.1037/pas0001362

Disordered eating is a prevalent and relevant health concern that remains understudied among U.S. military veterans. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a newly recognized feeding and eating disorder characterized by overly restrictive eating due to (a) picky eating, (b) lack of appetite, and (c) fear of aversive consequences related to eating. The Nine-Item ARFID Screen (NIAS) is a recently developed ARFID screening tool with initial validation studies demonstrating psychometric support. However, the psychometric properties of the NIAS have not been investigated in a veteran sample. To advance our understanding of ARFID screening tools that may be appropriate for use in veterans, the present study examined the factor structure of the NIAS using survey data from a large national sample of recently separated veterans (N = 1,486). Measurement invariance across key subgroups was tested in addition to exploring differential associations between the NIAS and related constructs. Results suggested that a three-factor model provided an excellent fit of the data and demonstrated scalar invariance across self-identified men and women, race and ethnicity, and sexual and gender minority (SGM) identity. Some subgroups had higher latent means on the picky eating (women, SGM, non-Hispanic Black), appetite (women, SGM), and fear (women) factors. The NIAS had some overlap with another measure of disordered eating and was moderately correlated with psychosocial impairment and mental health. Overall, the NIAS may be a useful screening tool for ARFID in veterans, given support for the three proposed subscales and equivalence across diverse identities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, 129-132; doi:10.1037/pas0001349

In this Commentary article, we expand on issues in the theory of mind literature raised by Wendt et al. (2024) that limit progress in our understanding of how people read other minds. We critically assess how they categorized tasks in their study and, in so doing, raise deeper questions that need addressing: What exactly are mental states; how can we accurately measure mindreading when the “correct” answer lacks ground truth; and what are the contributions to individual differences in mindreading of general cognitive ability and specific experience in the kinds of minds being read? We conclude that developing a psychological theory of how people read other minds would advance ways in which we can better measure and explain what it means to be better or worse at mindreading and how general cognitive ability relates to this sociocognitive skill. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, 133-136; doi:10.1037/pas0001361

This reply to Conway et al. (2025) illustrates how points of contention in the evaluation of mindreading (or theory of mind) measures can arise from the use of divergent validity concepts. The construct validity model used in Wendt et al.’s (2024) empirical study contrasts with the perspective implicit in Conway and colleagues’ commentary, which is more consistent with Lennon’s (1956) content validity model. This is reflected in the authors’ conception of the nature of what is to be measured (i.e., the measurand), the criterion for what makes a measure superior (i.e., validity), and the proposed methods for judging this (i.e., validation). The mismatch between the validity concepts adopted by the respective authors has three major implications: First, Conway and colleagues’ critique does not fully address the specific goals, assumptions, and intricacies of construct validation methodology. Second, their approach to measuring mindreading should not be confused with, or considered as an alternative to, construct validation but is valuable in its own right. Third, the two validity frameworks mentioned offer unique opportunities for different phases of the research process. While a content validity approach can be valuable for describing an empirical phenomenon that seems worthy of explanation (e.g., real-world mindreading), a construct validity approach can identify the theoretical constructs that might help explain it (e.g., mindreading ability). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(3), Mar 2025, e15-e27; doi:10.1037/pas0001355

We conducted the first validation of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) in Finnish. DASS-21 is a short public domain questionnaire, which presents a way to quickly and effectively screen for mental ill health. We recruited two large samples, one aged 24–45 (N = 3,101 [2,488 women]), and the other aged 60–82 (N = 5,462 [4,473 women]), all employees of the city of Helsinki at inclusion (2017 and 2000–2002). DASS-21 measured depression, anxiety, stress, and general distress reliably among Finnish-speaking adults. It appeared invariant with age and gender as evinced by invariance analyses, latent mean comparisons, and an examination of psychometric properties for the subscales and individual items. The subscales negatively correlated with the Emotional Well-being subscale of the RAND-36, as expected. A comparison of five structural models using confirmatory factor analyses and a robust estimation method (weighted-least-squares method) showed a good fit for a one-factor solution. We discuss the use and interpretation of the DASS-21 as both a measure of specific affective symptoms and unidimensional general distress. We provide future researchers and clinicians with norms and estimates of measurement error among Finnish-speaking adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(1-2), Jan-Feb 2025, 1-16; doi:10.1037/pas0001344

Narcissism is a relatively stable personality trait, which is most accurately described by three facets: agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic. Existing studies support the central role of antagonistic narcissism and its role in explaining the process of fluctuation in narcissism. However, there is a lack of a suitable adjective-based measure of antagonistic narcissism, resulting in intensive longitudinal studies assessing only agentic and neurotic narcissism. To address this gap and to advance research on fluctuations in narcissism, this article introduces the Narcissistic Antagonism Scale (NAS). Across six studies (total N = 1,862; k = 14,927 observations), we establish the NAS’s factorial, convergent, and divergent validity; reliability; and temporal stability. The three-factor model of narcissism, including antagonistic aspects, reproduces and proves to be invariant across daily and momentary perspectives. The NAS exhibits good psychometric properties at both between- and within-person levels. It is a valuable addition for intensive longitudinal studies and facilitates a nuanced examination of narcissistic states across diverse contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(1-2), Jan-Feb 2025, 17-32; doi:10.1037/pas0001354

The Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS) is a an economical, widely used self-report measure of vulnerable narcissism. Developed and mostly used as a unidimensional scale, previous structural examinations suggest two correlated dimensions, one emphasizing hypersensitive/neurotic aspects and the other highlighting egocentric/antagonistic aspects of vulnerable narcissism. The few extant factor analyses of the HSNS, however, differ profoundly in their methodological approach, the resulting item-to-factor assignment, and lack a thorough validation of the two putative subscales. To fill these gaps, we systematically examined and compared alternative measurement models for the HSNS and conducted comprehensive correlation analyses to map the proposed HSNS dimensions onto current models of general personality, narcissism, and psychopathology. In a first study, we constructed a German adaptation using data from three large samples (accumulated N = 3,655). In-depth examination of this German HSNS (Study 2, N = 1,359) confirmed the dimensions Oversensitivity and Egocentrism and suggested at least metric model invariance across gender and age. The two dimensions displayed distinct nomological nets and differed with respect to various personality traits, personality pathology markers, the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology, and psychological (mal-)adjustment. HSNS-Oversensitivity corresponds with measures of neurotic narcissism and predicts internalizing pathology and intrapersonal dysfunctions, whereas Egocentrism overlaps with antagonistic narcissism, low agreeableness, and externalizing problems. Taken together, our research reconciles the HSNS with other multidimensional narcissism measures as well as current dimensional models of personality and psychopathology and attests to its utility to capture vulnerable narcissistic traits at a finer grained level. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(1-2), Jan-Feb 2025, 33-45; doi:10.1037/pas0001356

Premenstrual symptoms are distressing and impairing for individuals and costly to society. These symptoms are heterogeneous within and across people, dimensional, and dynamic. While some efforts have been made to understand the trajectories of premenstrual symptoms, two major gaps in the literature remain. First, we lack understanding of the covariation among symptoms over the course of the menstrual cycle. Second, we know little about the trajectories of these symptoms and why symptoms might take different courses. To address these gaps, a sample of female undergraduates (N = 85) who reported no use of hormonal birth control and regularly occurring menstrual periods were recruited for a 4-month-long electronic daily diary study of premenstrual symptoms. We explored the covariation of symptoms over the cycle by conducting a multilevel exploratory factor analysis of the daily diary items. We identified six distinct but correlated symptom domains at the within-person level which were affective, cognitive, interpersonal, pain, and somatic. Next, we characterized the trajectories of each symptom domain using multilevel natural spline models and their first/second derivatives. Somatic symptoms increased/decreased more sharply and quickly than other symptom domains, pointing to a unique trajectory. Interpersonal and affective symptoms, on the other hand, were milder throughout. We demonstrated the importance of investigating the differences among symptom domain trajectories and underscored the need for future research to elucidate the unique mechanisms that underlie each trajectory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(1-2), Jan-Feb 2025, 46-61; doi:10.1037/pas0001348

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) collects real-time data in daily life, enhancing ecological validity and reducing recall bias. An EMA questionnaire that measures symptoms and transdiagnostic factors was recently developed with network modeling purposes. This study examines this EMA protocol’s (a) subjective experience (e.g., burden, item clarity, survey frequency adequacy); (b) compliance, dropout, and predictors thereof; (c) the variability of EMA items across and within participants; and (d) the relations between EMA items and baseline standardized psychopathology questionnaires. University students (n = 262, Mage = 21.9, 84.8% females, 17.2% Dutch) completed eight daily momentary surveys (with the first including the morning survey), an evening survey, and a weekly survey during a 4-week EMA protocol. Additionally, a concluding survey examined participants’ subjective experiences. Perceived burden was 3.40 on a 7-point scale, and people with higher levels of psychopathology found it more burdensome and more difficult to complete. Moreover, 67% of the surveys were completed, and 16% of the participants dropped out. Baseline psychopathology was not significantly associated with dropout or compliance. Moreover, surveys triggered in later study days, during the weekend, longer surveys, and surveys with lower financial reward were more likely to be missed. Between-subjects and within-subjects variability and correlations with baseline psychopathology varied across EMA items, with most EMA items showing sufficient within-individual variability for network modeling purposes and showing correlations across all types of psychopathology and transdiagnostic factors. The results suggest that the collection of intensive time-series data is feasible, and data quality and characteristics match requirements of different network models. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(1-2), Jan-Feb 2025, 62-69; doi:10.1037/pas0001352

Considerable proportions of college students in White, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries, such as the United States, suffer from eating disorders and other problematic eating behaviors. The prevalence of eating disorders in Western Asia has been historically low but is rapidly increasing. One of the most dramatic increases is occurring in the United Arab Emirates. Advancements in eating disorder research and intervention that would benefit college students in the United Arab Emirates are inhibited by the lack of psychometrically sound measures of eating behaviors and motivations that have been empirically demonstrated to perform well in this population. The present study took initial steps in filling this need by evaluating the measurement and predictive invariance of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire–Short Form and The Eating Motivation Survey using college student samples from the United Arab Emirates (n = 366) and United States (n = 317), followed by a series of cross-country comparisons. Results offer important evidence supporting the measurement invariance of both instruments and the predictive invariance of the The Eating Motivation Survey when used to predict scores on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire–Short Form. Although no significant cross-country differences in eating disorder features and behaviors were found, some cross-country differences in eating motivations were observed. Similar eating motivations emerged in both countries as possible protective and risk factors for eating disorders. The implications of these findings for eating disorder assessment and practice are discussed, along with their implications for theory and research on eating motivations, nutritional health, and people’s relationships with food. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Assessment, Vol 37(1-2), Jan-Feb 2025, e1-e14; doi:10.1037/pas0001353

Three-factor models of narcissism (Agentic, Neurotic, and Antagonistic Narcissism) have gained widespread recognition in the field. The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI) stands out as the most comprehensive and only tool to date that assesses all three narcissism domains. However, its validation in Chinese culture and forensic contexts remains largely unexplored. With community (N = 578) and offender (N = 726) samples from China, we examined 60-, 30-, and 15-item versions of the Chinese FFNI in terms of internal structure, external associates, and consistency across samples and versions. Our findings demonstrate acceptable internal consistencies and structural validity of each version of the Chinese FFNI, albeit with minor deviations in the Neurotic Narcissism factor. The FFNI demonstrated good cross-sample and cross-version consistency. These results suggest the utility of the FFNI in Chinese samples and suggest some comparability across community and offender groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)