Introduction
The three standardized tests identified and considered for the psychological assignment are; the Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits (ICU), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) tests. The Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits (ICU) is one of the copyright-protected 24-item surveys designed to offer a comprehensive assessment of callous traits that have proved to be unemotional. Such traits are always important in the designation of distinct subgroups of youths who have showcased antisocial and aggressive behaviors. On the other hand, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is a test that is utilized during the determination of the factor structure of a measure, hence, playing a key role in the affirmation of internal reliability in a psychological test. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) test is a statistical technique that is utilized during the verification of a set of observed variables in a study, and for cases such as the determination of family accommodation of childhood anxiety. The tests were performed on parent-child pairs, with children aged between 13 to 18 years.
Regarding the element of psychological condition that is being tested and justified in the experiments, child anxiety and emotional traits take concern and are within the standardization of the tests, since, the key participants are within the recommended ages. Hence, helping in analyzing the validity and reliability between the quality of life led by the children and the extent they are likely to suffer the same conditions.
Technical Review Article Summaries
Lebowitz, E. R., Marin, C. E., & Silverman, W. K. (2019). Measuring family accommodation of childhood anxiety: Confirmatory factor analysis, validity, and reliability of the parent and child family accommodation scale–anxiety. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 49(6), 752-760. Web.
The article deduces findings on family accommodation of childhood anxiety disorders. This has been a common phenomenon among households, where parents can even tend to change or manipulate their behavior in an attempt to avoid elevating anxiety among their children. However, the study has encountered a number of delimitations, hence, calling for further justification that could be confirmed through actual studies. This is evident because child anxiety is nominal in every household, to the extent that over 90% of mothers accommodate anxious children, with a good percentage proving that the same children showcase severe and worse anxiety conditions (Lebowitz, Marin, & Silverman, 2019).
With such matters attracting a lot of concerns within the family unit, several interventions have been put in place, and treatment of child anxiety is a common plausible cause to reducing child anxiety, hence, reducing accommodation. Therefore, the Family Accommodation Scale-Anxiety (FASA) in the accompaniment of the child-rated version was utilized as the unit of measurement of the condition. Both the explanatory and the confirmatory factor analyses were preferred for the test owing to the critical aspects associated with them. For instance, EFA was considered since it played a crucial role in the identification of theoretical concepts lying within a construct (Lebowitz, Marin, & Silverman, 2019).
Reciprocally, the study showed that CFA majors on the determination of whether the hypothesized models offer the desired data for the study objective or not. Collectively, the two tests are key in providing detailed information that will be used to deduce the internal validity of the study elements. Since the conception of FASA, there are about two successful measures for childhood anxiety, where the two families showed a high degree of consistency of the divergent and convergent validity, hence, proving to be justifiable by meeting all the desired standards. Using the Child and Parent version, the article showcases how test-retest reliability has been the applauded type of reliability following its excellent manipulation of outcomes commenced by expert personnel (Lebowitz, Marin, & Silverman, 2019). The findings in the article indicate that both convergent and divergent validity testing for FASA is positive. This is true since they show a high correlation between parent-child anxiety than any other parameter of determination, hence, proving its validity.
Ueno, K., Ackermann, K., Freitag, C. M., & Schwenck, C. (2021). Assessing callous–unemotional traits in 6-to 18-year-olds: Reliability, validity, factor structure, and norms of the German version of the inventory of callous–unemotional traits. Assessment, 28(2), 567-584. Web.
The article illustrates the reliability and validity of the multi-informant survey Inventor of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU). This determination was based on the confirmatory factor analysis where self, parent, and teacher report versions were utilized in the bid to acquire some basic norms of children and adolescents aged between 6 to 18 years of German origin (Ueno, Ackermann, Freitag, & Schwenck, 2021). Therefore, the article embraced the determination of the exploration of the ICU factor structure where a detailed comparison of various factor models, that could later be used to deduce the reliability of the study being considered.
The study involved 1,342 schoolchildren and adolescents recruited from 49 schools across the German federal state. The schools were identified through a random selection under the approval of the school directors. The schools were composed of primary, secondary, and vocational levels and all the participants were not considered for any kind of motivation or rather incentives. Some of the key measures considered in the study include the Observer Rating Scale for Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorders, where the parents and teachers were engaged in the provision of information used to determine oppositional disorder (Ueno, et al., 2021).
The second measure utilized in the study as indicated by the article is the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory where psychopathic traits in adolescents were addressed and scores determined. Lastly, the Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits measure was utilized. In this measure, parent-teacher views were assessed regarding the observable unemotional and callous traits portrayed by adolescents aged 13 and above years. Upon the completion of data collection, analyses were commenced using the SPSS method. Findings indicated a recommendable rate of fitness of the parent-teacher report from the ICU had a good reliability rate attributed to an acceptable internal consistency, making it qualify as test-retest reliability (Ueno, et al., 2021). Therefore, the study found that there is a high positivity of correlation in all ICUs that positive parental and teacher association with children and adolescents plays an important role in the eradication of callous and unemotional traits and the reverse is true.
Conclusion
In summary, the two studies have proved their validity and reliability after meeting all the desired standards determination. For the case of accommodation of family accommodation of childhood anxiety, it is conclusive that there is a high degree of parent-children accommodation ratings depicted by the available child anxiety symptoms. A number of studies have pinned the relationship between parent-child anxiety and child-parent anxiety with no child-child anxiety, thus, implying a justifiable deduction of the validity and reliability of such associations.
On matters of callous-unemotional traits among children, it is evident from the study that there is a greater need to involve age and sex norms during the performance of both clinical and scientific determination of unemotional and callous traits. It is therefore deduced that ICU plays an important role in the determination of callous-unemotional traits. This implies that with the parameters in place, the CD can be used as a screener to identify children and adolescents that are at greater risk of future behavioral disorders, hence, giving lead ways to address such disorders.