Psychometric evaluation of the short form of the Arizona Life History Battery (K-SF-42): A revised Chinese version for emerging adults

The reliability and validity of the brief measures of perceived childhood harshness and unpredictability: A revised Chinese version for emerging adults

BACKGROUND

Childhood harshness and unpredictability significantly shape life history strategies, as well as downstream psychological and behavioral patterns. However, prior research involving Chinese populations has suffered from inconsistent metrics and limited measurement items.

OBJECTIVE

We adapted the English version of Maranges et al.'s (2022) Harshness and Unpredictability Scale in Childhood, translating it into Chinese and assessing its reliability and validity.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Six groups of different college student samples have been collected and the Chinese version of the Harshness and Unpredictability scales has been revised in two separate studies.

METHODS

We evaluated the factor structure using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, determined internal consistency, item discrimination, concurrent validity, and assessed gender measurement invariance through multiple CFAs. The test-retest reliability was subsequently established by assessing participants after a designated interval.

RESULTS

Both scales passed psychometric tests, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and exhibited strong internal consistency and item discrimination. Gender invariance in the measurements was also confirmed.

CONCLUSIONS

The Chinese version of the Childhood Harshness and Unpredictability Scale demonstrates high reliability and validity, making it suitable for deeper examinations into the relationship between early environments and life history strategies in Chinese contexts.

Childhood environment and adulthood food addiction: Testing the multiple mediations of life history strategies and attitudes toward self

Food addiction is associated with both physical and mental health conditions, such as obesity and depression, and is considered a public health problem. Based on life history (LH) theory, this study aimed to test the association between unpredictable childhood environment and food addiction in adulthood and to examine LH strategies and attitudes toward self as psychological mediators of this association. A random sample of 1010 adults, aged from 18 to 88 years (44.8% male; Mage = 38.52, SDage = 14.53), voluntarily participated in an anonymous telephone survey conducted in Macao, China. The results of a path analysis showed the significant and positive direct effect of childhood unpredictability on food addiction and its negative association with slow LH strategy, which in turn was negatively correlated with food addiction. In addition, slow LH strategy and self-judgment, rather than self-kindness, acted as serial mediators in the association between childhood unpredictability and food addiction. These findings support the applicability of LH theory to understanding food addiction, as well as pointing to the potential risk effect of self-judgment for food addiction in adulthood. Self-judgment reduction may be a potential supplementary approach for future food addiction intervention.