A reciprocal effects model linking emotion and achievement over time is proposed. The model was tested using five annual waves of the Project for the Analysis of Learning and Achievement in ...Mathematics (PALMA) longitudinal study, which investigated adolescents' development in mathematics (Grades 5-9; N = 3,425 German students; mean starting age = 11.7 years; representative sample). Structural equation modeling showed that positive emotions (enjoyment, pride) positively predicted subsequent achievement (math end-of-the-year grades and test scores), and that achievement positively predicted these emotions, controlling for students' gender, intelligence, and family socioeconomic status. Negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, hopelessness) negatively predicted achievement, and achievement negatively predicted these emotions. The findings were robust across waves, achievement indicators, and school tracks, highlighting the importance of emotions for students' achievement and of achievement for the development of emotions.
I study investor responses to the 2020 bank stress tests that included restrictions on shareholder payouts. I find that banks subject to the stress tests and payout restrictions experienced both ...immediate and persistently lower excess stock price returns. In the cross-section, I find that excess stock returns declined with bank size but cannot otherwise be explained by pre-pandemic bank or payout characteristics, suggesting that investors penalized banks likely to experience greater regulatory scrutiny. However, the excess stock return penalties are smaller than those previously estimated in the literature examining voluntary payout reductions that signal bank distress. The results show that using supervisory discretion to take preventative actions in a crisis can be less costly than actions taken once banks are distressed.
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), path analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) have long histories in clinical research. Although CFA has largely ...superseded EFA, CFAs of multidimensional constructs typically fail to meet standards of good measurement: goodness of fit, measurement invariance, lack of differential item functioning, and well-differentiated factors in support of discriminant validity. Part of the problem is undue reliance on overly restrictive CFAs in which each item loads on only one factor. Exploratory SEM (ESEM), an overarching integration of the best aspects of CFA/SEM and traditional EFA, provides confirmatory tests of a priori factor structures, relations between latent factors and multigroup/multioccasion tests of full (mean structure) measurement invariance. It incorporates all combinations of CFA factors, ESEM factors, covariates, grouping/multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) variables, latent growth, and complex structures that typically have required CFA/SEM. ESEM has broad applicability to clinical studies that are not appropriately addressed either by traditional EFA or CFA/SEM.
Abstract
Scalar invariance is an unachievable ideal that in practice can only be approximated; often using potentially questionable approaches such as partial invariance based on a stepwise selection ...of parameter estimates with large modification indices. Study 1 demonstrates an extension of the power and flexibility of the alignment approach for comparing latent factor means in large-scale studies (30 OECD countries, 8 factors, 44 items, N = 249,840), for which scalar invariance is typically not supported in the traditional confirmatory factor analysis approach to measurement invariance (CFA-MI). Importantly, we introduce an alignment-within-CFA (AwC) approach, transforming alignment from a largely exploratory tool into a confirmatory tool, and enabling analyses that previously have not been possible with alignment (testing the invariance of uniquenesses and factor variances/covariances; multiple-group MIMIC models; contrasts on latent means) and structural equation models more generally. Specifically, it also allowed a comparison of gender differences in a 30-country MIMIC AwC (i.e., a SEM with gender as a covariate) and a 60-group AwC CFA (i.e., 30 countries × 2 genders) analysis. Study 2, a simulation study following up issues raised in Study 1, showed that latent means were more accurately estimated with alignment than with the scalar CFA-MI, and particularly with partial invariance scalar models based on the heavily criticized stepwise selection strategy. In summary, alignment augmented by AwC provides applied researchers from diverse disciplines considerable flexibility to address substantively important issues when the traditional CFA-MI scalar model does not fit the data.
Translational Abstract
Determining whether people in certain countries score differently in measurements of interest (e.g., values, attitudes, opinions, or behaviors) can assist in testing theories, comparing countries, and advancing our psychological, sociological, and cross-cultural knowledge. Meaningful comparisons of means or relationships between constructs within and across nations require equivalent measurements of these constructs. However, tests of measurement equality or invariance usually fail when many groups are considered. Asparouhov and Muthén (2014) presented a new method for multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), referred to as the alignment method. A strength of the method is the ability to estimate group-specific factor means and variances without requiring exact measurement invariance. Study 1 introduces an extension of the alignment method that can flexibly be applied in a large range of structural equation models. This is demonstrated by comparing latent factor means and relationships between 8 motivational constructs and covariates (e.g., gender) across 30 countries in a large-scale study (PISA, N = 249,840), in which the traditional measurement invariance was not achieved. Study 2, a simulation study, was presented showing that latent means were more accurately estimated with the alignment method than with other measurement invariance models (e.g., partial invariance models). In summary, the alignment method, augmented by its more flexible extension suggested in the present article, provides applied researchers from diverse disciplines considerable flexibility to address substantively important issues when the traditional measurement model does not fit the data.
We test the theoretical equivalence of credit default swap (CDS) prices and credit spreads derived by Duffie (1999), finding support for the parity relation as an equilibrium condition. We also find ...two forms of deviation from parity. First, for three firms, CDS prices are substantially higher than credit spreads for long periods of time, arising from combinations of imperfections in the contract specification of CDSs and measurement errors in computing the credit spread. Second, we find short-lived deviations from parity for all other companies due to a lead for CDS prices over credit spreads in the price discovery process.
This study extends the classic constructive dialogue/debate between self-concept and self-efficacy researchers (Marsh, Roche, Pajares, & Miller, 1997) regarding the distinctions between these 2 ...constructs. The study is a substantive-methodological synergy, bringing together new substantive, theoretical, and statistical models and developing new tests of the classic jingle-jangle fallacy. We demonstrate that in a representative sample of 3,350 students from math classes in 43 German schools, generalized math self-efficacy and math outcome expectancies were indistinguishable from math self-concept, but were distinct from test-related and functional measures of self-efficacy. This is consistent with the jingle-jangle fallacies that are proposed. On the basis of pretest variables, we demonstrate negative frame-of-reference effects in social (big-fish-little-pond effect) and dimensional (internal/external frame-of-reference effect) comparisons for three self-concept-like constructs in each of the first 4 years of secondary school. In contrast, none of the frame-of-reference effects were significantly negative for either of the two self-efficacy-like constructs in any of the 4 years of testing. After controlling for pretest variables, each of the 3 self-concept-like constructs (math self-concept, outcome expectancy, and generalized math self-efficacy) in each of the 4 years of secondary school was more strongly related to posttest outcomes (school grades, test scores, future aspirations) than were the corresponding 2 self-efficacy-like factors. Extending discussion by Marsh et al. (1997), we clarify distinctions between self-efficacy and self-concept; the role of evaluation, worthiness, and outcome expectancy in self-efficacy measures; and complications in generalized and global measures of self-efficacy.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
Positive self-beliefs are a central construct in educational psychology, and self-concept and self-efficacy are the most widely used and theoretically important representations of positive self-beliefs. In Educational Psychology, much effort has been expended in trying to distinguish between self-concept and self-efficacy. Nevertheless, in practice and theory the distinction remains murky. We critique previous conceptual attempts to distinguish the two constructs-arguing against some distinctions that have been offered in the past and offering some new theoretical distinctions and new empirical approaches to testing support for these distinctions.
This study illustrates an overarching psychometric approach of broad relevance to investigations of 2 sources of construct-relevant psychometric multidimensionality present in many complex ...multidimensional instruments routinely used in psychological and educational research. These 2 sources of construct-relevant psychometric multidimensionality are related to (a) the fallible nature of indicators as perfect indicators of a single construct, and (b) the hierarchical nature of the constructs being assessed. The first source is identified by comparing confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) solutions. The second source is identified by comparing first-order, hierarchical, and bifactor measurement models. To provide an applied illustration of the substantive relevance of this framework, we first apply these models to a sample of German children (N = 1,957) who completed the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ-I). Then, in a second study using a simulated data set, we provide a more pedagogical illustration of the proposed framework and the broad range of possible applications of bifactor ESEM models.
In their influential review, Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, and Vohs (2003) concluded that self-esteem— the global component of self-concept—has no effect on subsequent academic performance. In ...contrast, Marsh and Craven's (2006) review of reciprocal effects models from an explicitly multidimensional perspective demonstrated that academic self-concept and achievement are both a cause and an effect of each other. Ironically, both reviews cited classic Youth in Transition studies in support of their respective claims. In definitive tests of these counter claims, the authors reanalyze these data—including self-esteem (emphasized by Baumeister et al.), academic self-concept (emphasized by Marsh & Craven), and postsecondary educational attainment—using stronger statistical methods based on five waves of data (grade 10 through 5 years after graduation; N = 2,213). Integrating apparently discrepant findings under a common theoretical framework based on a multidimensional perspective, academic self-concept had consistent reciprocal effects with both achievement and educational attainment, whereas self-esteem had almost none.
Based on the control-value theory of achievement emotions, this longitudinal study examined students' control-value appraisals as antecedents of their enjoyment and boredom in mathematics. ...Self-report data for appraisals and emotions were collected from 579 students in their final year of primary schooling over three waves. Data were analyzed using latent interaction structural equation modeling. Control-value appraisals predicted emotions interactively depending on which specific subjective value was paired with perceived control. Achievement value amplified the positive relation between perceived control and enjoyment, and intrinsic value reduced the negative relation between perceived control and boredom. These longitudinal findings demonstrate that control and value appraisals, and their interaction, are critically important for the development of students' enjoyment and boredom over time.
Drawing on the expectancy-value model, the present study explored individual and gender differences in university entry and selection of educational pathway (e.g., science, technology, engineering, ...and mathematics STEM course selection). In particular, we examined the multiplicative effects of expectancy and task values on educational outcomes during the transition into early adulthood. Participants were from a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 15-year-old Australian youths (N = 10,370). The results suggest that (a) both math self-concept and intrinsic value interact in predicting advanced math course selection, matriculation results, entrance into university, and STEM fields of study; (b) prior reading achievement has negative effects on advanced math course selection and STEM fields through math motivational beliefs; and (c) gender differences in educational outcomes are mediated by gender differences in motivational beliefs and prior academic achievement, while the processes underlying choice of educational pathway were similar for males and females.
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