Letter to the editor.

The present study aims to identify the relationship between bullying victimization (BV) and cyberbullying victimization (CBV) in emotional regulation difficulties (ERD) in a sample of adolescents in Ecuador. This work is based on a quantitative, descriptive, correlational, gender-comparative, cross-sectional design. The sample consisted of 384 adolescents, with 44% being females and the remaining 56% males, aged between 14 and 19 years (M= 15.7; SD= 4.4). The students came from 9 schools in two cities in Ecuador. BV and BCV levels were found to be low, while ERD levels were moderate. There were only gender differences in BV, with a higher presence in males than females. Finally, there was a positive relationship between BV (moderate), BCV (slight) and DRE. BV and BCV are also positively and moderately related. BV and BVB are elements that interact in a relevant way with DRE in adolescent...

The objective was to determine the relationship between Academic Self-Efficacy and Academic Procrastination in a sample of adolescents from the city of Quito, Ecuador. The research presents a descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional approach using the Academic Procrastination Scale, Tuckman's Academic Procrastination Scale, General Self-Efficacy, and Perceived Specific Academic Situations Self-Efficacy scales. Participated 424 adolescents (49.8% male, 50.2% female) aged between 12 and 17 years (M = 14 years; SD = 1.71). Students from different secondary educational institutions (73.8% private, 25.2% public, and 0.9% Fiscomisional, jointly funded by the government and the Catholic Church). General and Academic Self-Efficacy are moderate, while Procrastination is low; gender differences are only present in General Self-Efficacy, with males showing more self-efficacy. There is a rela...

“The objectives of this study are to evaluate the measurement invariance of the University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS) three-item version (UCLA-LS-3) in older adults in Peru and Spain, to compare the latent means of loneliness, and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale with Item Response Theory (IRT) models, and evaluate the possible moderating effects of the country on loneliness-health relationships. Peruvian sample was composed of 235 old adults from the city of Lima. The Spanish sample was composed of 443 old adults. The three-factor structure of RUCLA-3 anchored to the health measure fitted the data reasonably well in Spain and Peru. The R-UCLA-3 may be considered invariant for these two samples. The latent means of loneliness are different, the Peruvian average of loneliness being greater than that of Spain. The R-UCLA-3 is an invariant mea...

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), using Item Response Theory (IRT) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The participants were 790 Peruvians, selected through a convenience sampling, where the majority were women. The CFA models indicated that the one-dimensional structure better represents the data, is reliable and invariant between men and women. Likewise, IRT findings indicate that CAS is more informative for high levels of COVID-19 anxiety. The CAS in Spanish has adequate psychometric properties to be used as a short measure of COVID-19 anxiety.

The aim of the study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), using Item Response Theory (IRT) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The participants were 790 Peruvians, selected through a convenience sampling, where the majority were women. The CFA models indicated that the one-dimensional structure better represents the data, is reliable and invariant between men and women. Likewise, IRT findings indicate that CAS is more informative for high levels of COVID-19 anxiety. The CAS in Spanish has adequate psychometric properties to be used as a short measure of COVID-19 anxiety.

The objectives of this study are to evaluate the measurement invariance of the University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS) three-item version (UCLA-LS-3) in older adults in Peru and Spain, to compare the latent means of loneliness, and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale with Item Response Theory (IRT) models, and evaluate the possible moderating effects of the country on loneliness-health relationships. Peruvian sample was composed of 235 old adults from the city of Lima. The Spanish sample was composed of 443 old adults. The three-factor structure of RUCLA-3 anchored to the health measure fitted the data reasonably well in Spain and Peru. The R-UCLA-3 may be considered invariant for these two samples. The latent means of loneliness are different, the Peruvian average of loneliness being greater than that of Spain. The R-UCLA-3 is an invariant measur...

The brief God Mysticism Scale (GMS-B) is a 12-item scale that assesses the perception of God mysticism. The study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the GMS-B. The sample consisted of 421 young Peruvians from the city of Lima with a mean age of 26.76 years, recruited by convenience sampling using a snowball method. Construct validity, internal consistency reliability, difficulty and discrimination indices of the items, and measurement invariance across sex of the GMS-B were evaluated using procedures derived from classical test theory and item response theory. A confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the original model of two correlated factors did not show adequate fit indices. For this reason, after testing a set of factorial models, it was determined that a brief model of five items written in a positive manner (GMS-5) presented the best fit. ...

Background: Depression and anxiety are two of the most prevalent and disabling mental disorders worldwide, both in the general population and in outpatient clinical settings. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) based on network analysis metrics. Methods: A total of 911 Paraguayans (23.71% women and 76.29% men; mean age 31.25 years, SD = 10.63), selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling, participated in the study. Network analysis was used to evaluate the internal structure, reliability, and measurement invariance between men and women. Results: The results revealed that the PHQ-4 is a unidimensional measure through Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA). Reliability, through structural consistency, identified that 100% of the time, only a single dimension was obtained, and all items remained stable, as they w...

Background: Depression and anxiety are two of the most prevalent and disabling mental disorders worldwide, both in the general population and in outpatient clinical settings. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) based on network analysis metrics. Methods: A total of 911 Paraguayans (23.71% women and 76.29% men; mean age 31.25 years, SD = 10.63), selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling, participated in the study. Network analysis was used to evaluate the internal structure, reliability, and measurement invariance between men and women. Results: The results revealed that the PHQ-4 is a unidimensional measure through Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA). Reliability, through structural consistency, identified that 100% of the time, only a single dimension was obtained, and all items remained stable, as they w...

The aim was to test the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL-SF in a sample of people from seven Latin American countries. Additionally, the characteristics of the PIL-SF items were evaluated and to assess the relationship between purpose in life, as measured by the PIL-SF, and fear of COVID-19. A total of 4306 people from seven Latin American countries participated in the study. The results indicated that the PIL-SF is invariant in the seven participating countries and, therefore, there is evidence that the items reflect the purpose of life in the same way in all countries. This allows comparisons of purpose in life between countries that are free of bias, reflecting the true differences in how countries respond to items. From IRT, the discrimination parameters are adequate and indicate that the items cover a wide range of the purpose in life construct. The difficulty parame...

The aim was to test the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL-SF in a sample of people from seven Latin American countries. Additionally, the characteristics of the PIL-SF items were evaluated and to assess the relationship between purpose in life, as measured by the PIL-SF, and fear of COVID-19. A total of 4306 people from seven Latin American countries participated in the study. The results indicated that the PIL-SF is invariant in the seven participating countries and, therefore, there is evidence that the items reflect the purpose of life in the same way in all countries. This allows comparisons of purpose in life between countries that are free of bias, reflecting the true differences in how countries respond to items. From IRT, the discrimination parameters are adequate and indicate that the items cover a wide range of the purpose in life construct. The difficulty parame...

“The Purpose in Life Test (PIL) is a measure of purpose in life widely used in many cultures and countries; however, cross-cultural assessments are scarce. The present study aimed to evaluate the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL in the general population of seven Latin American countries (Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay). A total of 4306 people participated, selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling, where Uruguay has the highest mean age (M = 41.8; SD = 16.6 years); while Ecuador has the lowest mean age (M = 24.6; SD = 7.8 years). Furthermore, in each country, there is a higher proportion of women (>60%) than men (<40%). Using Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the factorial structure does not show evidence of invariance among the included countries. However, based on the Multi-Group Factor Analysis Alignment, th...

“The Purpose in Life Test (PIL) is a measure of purpose in life widely used in many cultures and countries; however, cross-cultural assessments are scarce. The present study aimed to evaluate the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL in the general population of seven Latin American countries (Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay). A total of 4306 people participated, selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling, where Uruguay has the highest mean age (M = 41.8; SD = 16.6 years); while Ecuador has the lowest mean age (M = 24.6; SD = 7.8 years). Furthermore, in each country, there is a higher proportion of women (>60%) than men (<40%). Using Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the factorial structure does not show evidence of invariance among the included countries. However, based on the Multi-Group Factor Analysis Alignment, th...

The Grief Impairment Scale (GIS) is used to measure functional impairment due to grief following the death of a loved one. However, there is no information on its cross-cultural utility. Thus, this study assessed the measurement invariance of the GIS using a large sample of bereaved adults (N = 2060) from Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Colombia. Specifically, we employed two measurement invariance techniques: multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) and the alignment optimization method. The results indicated that the GIS demonstrated configural and metric invariance, but not scalar invariance through MG-CFA. The alignment optimization method indicated the presence of an approximate invariance. Therefore, the results suggest that the GIS measures grief-related impairment similarly across the four Latin American countries. Among the countries examined, Peru reported the highest ...

Conspiracy theories about COVID-19 began to emerge immediately after the first news about the disease and threaten to prolong the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by limiting people’s willingness of receiving a life-saving vaccine. In this context, this study aimed to explore the variation of conspiracy beliefs regarding COVID-19 and the vaccine against it in 5779 people living in 13 Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) according to sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, educational level and source of information about COVID-19. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic between September 15 and October 25, 2021. The Spanish-language COVID-19 Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale (ECCV-COVID) and a sociodemographic survey were used. The results indicate...

“The aim was to test the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL-SF in a sample of people from seven Latin American countries. Additionally, the characteristics of the PIL-SF items were evaluated and to assess the relationship between purpose in life, as measured by the PIL-SF, and fear of COVID-19. A total of 4306 people from seven Latin American countries participated in the study. The results indicated that the PIL-SF is invariant in the seven participating countries and, therefore, there is evidence that the items refect the purpose of life in the same way in all countries. This allows comparisons of purpose in life between countries that are free of bias, refecting the true diferences in how countries respond to items. From IRT, the discrimination parameters are adequate and indicate that the items cover a wide range of the purpose in life construct. The difculty paramete...

The aim was to test the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL-SF in a sample of people from seven Latin American countries. Additionally, the characteristics of the PIL-SF items were evaluated and to assess the relationship between purpose in life, as measured by the PIL-SF, and fear of COVID-19. A total of 4306 people from seven Latin American countries participated in the study. The results indicated that the PIL-SF is invariant in the seven participating countries and, therefore, there is evidence that the items reflect the purpose of life in the same way in all countries. This allows comparisons of purpose in life between countries that are free of bias, reflecting the true differences in how countries respond to items. From IRT, the discrimination parameters are adequate and indicate that the items cover a wide range of the purpose in life construct. The difficulty parame...

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPN por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado.

“Background: There is an urgent need to assess changes in well-being on a multinational scale during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus culturally valid scales must be available. Methods: With this in mind, this study examined the invariance of the WHO well-being index (WHO-5) among a sample of 5183 people from 12 Latin Americans countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay). Results: The results of the present study indicate that the WHO-5 is strictly invariant across samples from different Latin American countries. Furthermore, the results of the IRT analysis indicate that all items of the WHO-5 were highly discriminative and that the difficulty required to respond to each of the five items is ascending. Additionally, the results indicated the presence of moderate and small size differences in subjective well-bein...