The home environment is a particularly significant part of life that is supposed to satisfy inhabitants’ needs, form their identity, and contribute to psychological wellbeing. The construct of home attachment is especially relevant for students as a most mobile social group. This study is devoted to the validation of the Short Home Attachment Scale in a student sample from five countries. A total of 1,349 university students participated in the study and filled in the 14 items of HAS. In order (...) to avoid redundant items with high error covariances damaging the model, a new scale—the SHAS was developed by eliminating seven items. The shortened scale has satisfactory structure validity in terms of model fit in all countries except Indonesia; internal reliability values were acceptable in all countries. Measurement invariance across countries was tested with Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Alignment Analysis. MG CFA confirmed both configurational and metric invariance. The invariance of item factor loadings, as well as item intercepts, was also confirmed by the Alignment Analysis. The mean scores varied across cultures, with the highest in India and the lowest in Russia. The final version of SHAS is a valid, reliable tool that may be recommended for use in cross-cultural research. However, the SHAS factor structure robustness in the Indonesian population should be investigated thoroughly. (shrink)

The correlational study is aimed at validating theAuthenticity Scalein Russian culture. Authenticity is considered a trait responsible for a person’s ability to be oneself. It helps people resist environment pressure and prevent self-alienation, which contributes to maintaining psychological wellbeing. The original Authenticity Scale includes three subscales:Authentic Living, Accepting External Influence, andSelf-Alienation. In total, 2,188 respondents (Mage= 26.30,SDage= 13.81; 78.1% female) participated in the survey. The dimensionality of theAuthenticity Scaleand its measurement invariance across sex, age, and depression rate subgroups was examined (...) with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses; the original tripartite structure was kept. Convergent validity was tested through correlation analyses with theWarwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, theInternational Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short-Form, theCentre of Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, theRosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and theSatisfaction with Life Scale. According to the CFA results, the structure of the Russian version differs from the original one slightly (item 1 was moved from the subscaleAuthentic Livingto the subscaleAccepting External Influenceand item 4 was excluded); however, the modified factor model showed the best absolute and comparative fit statistics [CFI = 0.961, TLI = 0.949, RMSEA = 0.050 (90% CI [0.40; 0.60]) and SRMR = 0.037]. The reliability (McDonald’s Omega) of theAuthenticity Scalesubscales was satisfactory and ranged from 0.78 to 0.84. It was revealed that youth are more likely to have high scores onAccepting External InfluenceandSelf-Alienationthan adults. Men and women did not significantly differ on the sub-scores ofAuthenticity Scale. Multigroup CFA also showed thatAuthenticity Scalescores may be biased in people with high levels of clinical depression, in terms of the item intercepts.Authentic Livingis positively connected with mental wellbeing, self-esteem, positive affect, satisfaction with life, and negatively with depressive symptoms and negative affect; reverse trends were found forAccepting External InfluenceandSelf-Alienationsubscales. The Russian version of theAuthenticity Scaleis a valid, reliable tool that may be recommended for use in various areas of non-clinical practice. (shrink)