Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is a complex, multi-step process. The goal of this paper is to collect, in one article, information that will allow researchers and practitioners to understand the various choices available through popular software packages, and to make decisions about ”best practices” in exploratory factor analysis. In particular, this paper provides practical information on making decisions regarding (a) extraction, (b) rotation, (c) the number of factors to interpret, and (d) sample size.

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Best Practices in Exploratory Factor Analysis: Four Recommendations for Getting the Most from Your Analysis

The present article examines the nature and function of human agency within the conceptual model of triadic reciprocal causation. In analyzing the operation of human agency in this interactional causal structure, social cognitive theory accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-reflective, and self-regulatory processes. The issues addressed concern the psychological mechanisms through which personal agency is exercised, the hierar- chical structure of self-regulatory systems, eschewal of the dichotomous construal of self as agent and self as object, and the properties of a nondualistic but nonreductional conception of human agency. The relation of agent cau- sality to the fundamental issues of freedom and deter- minism is also analyzed. The recent years have witnessed a resurgence of interest in the self-referent phenomena. One can point to several reasons why self processes have come to pervade many domains of psychology. Self-generated activities lie at the very heart of causal processes. They not only contribute to the meaning and valence of most external influences, but they also function as important proximal determi- nants of motivation and action. The capacity to exercise control over one's own thought processes, motivation, and action is a distinctively human characteristic. Because judgments and actions are partly self-determined, people can effect change in themselves and their situations through their own efforts. In this article, I will examine the mechanisms of human agency through which such changes are realized.

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Human Agency in Social Cognitive Theory

The greater power of bad events over good ones is found in everyday events, major life events (e.g., trauma), close relationship outcomes, social network patterns, interpersonal interactions, and learning processes. Bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad information is processed more thoroughly than good. The self is more motivated to avoid bad self-definitions than to pursue good ones. Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant to disconfirmation than good ones. Various explanations such as diagnosticity and salience help explain some findings, but the greater power of bad events is still found when such variables are controlled. Hardly any exceptions (indicating greater power of good) can be found. Taken together, these findings suggest that bad is stronger than good, as a general principle across a broad range of psychological phenomena.

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Bad is Stronger than Good

Bad is stronger than good

This paper presents an overview of the World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and a discussion of the methodological research on which the development of the instrument was based. The WMH-CIDI includes a screening module and 40 sections that focus on diagnoses (22 sections), functioning (four sections), treatment (two sections), risk factors (four sections), socio-demographic correlates (seven sections), and methodological factors (two sections). Innovations compared to earlier versions of the CIDI include expansion of the diagnostic sections, a focus on 12-month as well as lifetime disorders in the same interview, detailed assessment of clinical severity, and inclusion of information on treatment, risk factors, and consequences. A computer-assisted version of the interview is available along with a direct data entry software system that can be used to keypunch responses to the paper-and-pencil version of the interview. Computer programs that generate diagnoses are also available based on both ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria. Elaborate CD-ROM-based training materials are available to teach interviewers how to administer the interview as well as to teach supervisors how to monitor the quality of data collection.

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The World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative Version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

There is active debate regarding whether diagnosable depression exists on a continuum with subthreshold depressive symptoms or represents a categorically distinct phenomenon. To address this question, multiple indexes of dysfunction (psychosocial difficulties, mental health treatment history, and future incidence of major depression and substance abuse/dependence) were examined as a function of the extent of depressive symptoms in 3 large community samples (adolescent, adult, and older adult; N = 3,003). Increasing levels of depressive symptoms were associated with increasing levels of psychosocial dysfunction and incidence of major depression and substance use disorders. These findings suggest that (a) the clinical significance of depressive symptoms does not depend on crossing the major depressive diagnostic threshold and (b) depression may best be conceptualized as a continuum. Limitations of the present study are discussed.

Clinical implications of "subthreshold" depressive symptoms.

Two samples of family caregivers (Study 1: N = 169; Study 2: N = 145) of cognitively impaired older adults were used to revise, extend, and evaluate a measure of perceived self-efficacy for caregiving tasks. The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy measures 3 domains of caregiving self-efficacy: Obtaining Respite, Responding to Disruptive Patient Behaviors, and Controlling Upsetting Thoughts. The 3 subscales show strong internal consistency and adequate test-retest reliability. Construct validity is supported by relationships between these 3 facets of perceived caregiving efficacy and depression, anxiety, anger, perceived social support, and criticism expressed in speech samples. The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy has potential uses for both research and clinical purposes.

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The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy Reliability and Validity Studies

Nonspecific improvement effects in depression using interpersonal skills training, pleasant activity schedules, or cognitive training.

List of Tables. Editors. List of Contributors. Foreword. Preface. Part I: Conceptualizing Model and Measurement. 1. Teams in Health Care Settings G.D. Heinemann. 2. Measuring Team Performance in Health Care Settings A.M. Zeiss. 3. A Model of Team Performance G.D. Heinemann, A.M. Zeiss. 4. Organizational and Team Structure S.A. Brallier, R.A. Tsukuda. 5. Organizational and Team Context S.K. Harmon, S.A. Brallier, G.F. Brown. 6. Team Process L.O. Nichols, A.M. Defriese, C.C. Malone. 7. Team Productivity M.S. Waite, S.B. Hoffman. Part II: Reviewing and Evaluating Team Performance Instruments. 8. Critiquing and Summarizing Instruments S. Brallier, S. Lovett, T.F. Miller. 9. Focused Instruments R.A. Tsukuda. 10. Middle-Range Instruments S.B. Hoffman. 11. Broad-Spectrum Instruments M.S. Waite, L.O. Nichols. 12. Full-Spectrum Instruments G.F. Brown, E.P. Mahairas. 13. Instruments for Health Care Teams G.F. Brown, M.S. Waite. 14. Assessment and Development: Now and in the Future S. Lovett, A.M. Zeiss, G.D. Heinemann. Index.

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Team performance in health care: Assessment and development.

Physical disease is commonly considered a risk factor for depression among older adults. However, this pattern is not consistently supported, and a theoretical framework for understanding such a relationship has not been articulated. P.M. Lewinsohn, H. Hoberman, L. Teri, and M. Hautzinger's (1985) integrative model of depression predicts that disease will be a risk factor for depression only when disease results in functional impairment, and that impairment in the absence of disease is also a risk factor for depression. The authors tested these predictions in a community-based sample of older adults followed longitudinally and found that functional impairment was a significant risk factor for depression, regardless of disease status. Disease was not a significant predictor of major depression, nor did it interact with impairment to predict depression.

Antonette M. Zeiss

Papers

Clinical implications of "subthreshold" depressive symptoms.

The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy Reliability and Validity Studies

Nonspecific improvement effects in depression using interpersonal skills training, pleasant activity schedules, or cognitive training.

Team performance in health care: Assessment and development.

Relationship of physical disease and functional impairment to depression in older people.