The main purpose of this study was to examine the dimensional structure of the Spanish version of the PANAS, using a large sample of adolescents and young adults (N = 1103, age range 14 to 23). Furthermore, measurement invariance across gender and educational level was tested. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a bifactor model and a 3-factor model Positive Affect (PA), Negative Affect (NA) Upset, and NA Afraid (PA and NA uncorrelated) provided the best fit to the data. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses showed that the 3-factor model of the PANAS had strong measurement invariance across gender and educational level. Results showed statistically significant differences in the latent mean scores. University students scored higher than adolescents in PA, NA Upset, and NA Afraid. Men scored higher than women in PA. The PANAS scores also showed acceptable internal consistency scores (range from .80 to .86). The results found support for the PANAS as a brief and useful tool for the screening PA and NA in adolescents and young adult's populations. These findings hold implications for the study and use of the PANAS in nonclinical populations. Future studies should test measurement invariance of the PANAS scores across cultures. (PsycINFO Database Record

This pattern is similar to those found in patients with psychosis and psychotic-like experiences. These findings provide new insights and the opportunity to explore the phenotypic expression of schizotypal traits at cross-national level.

The main purpose of the present study was to assess the depressive symptomatology and to gather new validity evidences of the Reynolds Depression Scale-Short form (RADS-SF) in a representative sample of youths. The sample consisted of 2914 adolescents with a mean age of 15.85 years (SD = 1.68). We calculated the descriptive statistics and internal consistency of the RADS-SF scores. Also, confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) at the item level and successive multigroup CFAs to test measurement invariance, were conducted. Latent mean differences across gender and educational level groups were estimated, and finally, we studied the sources of validity evidences with other external variables. The level of internal consistency of the RADS-SF Total score by means of Ordinal alpha was .89. Results from CFAs showed that the one-dimensional model displayed appropriate goodness of-fit indices with CFI value over .95, and RMSEA value under .08. In addition, the results support the strong measurement invariance of the RADS-SF scores across gender and age. When latent means were compared, statistically significant differences were found by gender and age. Females scored 0.347 over than males in Depression latent variable, whereas older adolescents scored 0.111 higher than the younger group. In addition, the RADS-SF score was associated with the RADS scores. The results suggest that the RADS-SF could be used as an efficient screening test to assess self-reported depressive symptoms in adolescents from the general population.

The study of affective disorders among young population has become increasingly relevant in the last years. The PANAS is a widely used questionnaire devoted to assess positive and negative affect. The main purpose of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the PANAS for children (PANAS). The sample consisted of 1032 children and adolescents aged between 10 and 15 years. The ESEM two factor model (Positive Affect and Negative Affect) was found as the most suitable model. The PANAS scores also showed acceptable internal consistency. The ESEM two factor model was invariant across gender and educational level. Results showed statistically significant differences in the latent mean scores with females scoring higher than males in and younger students scoring lower in PA. Positive and negative affect were related with external variables of well-being. The present psychometric study supports the PANAS as a brief and useful tool for the screening of PA and NA in children and adolescents.

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