The 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE; N = 15,770) to collect measures on adolescent mental health. Given the debate in current literature regarding the dimensionality of the GHQ-12, this study examined the cultural sensitivity of the instrument at the item level for each of the 7 major ethnic groups within the database. This study used a hybrid approach of ordinal logistic regression and item response theory (IRT) to examine the presence of differential item functioning (DIF) on the questionnaire. Results demonstrated that uniform, nonuniform, and overall DIF were present on items between White and Asian adolescents (7 items), White and Black Caribbean adolescents (1 item), and White and Black African adolescents (7 items), however all McFadden's pseudo R² effect size estimates indicated that the DIF was negligible. Overall, there were cumulative small scale level effects for the Mixed/Biracial, Asian, and Black African groups, but in each case the bias was only marginal. Findings demonstrate that the GHQ-12 can be considered culturally sensitive for adolescents from diverse ethnic groups in England, but follow-up studies are necessary. Implications for future education and health policies as well as the use of IR-based approaches for psychological instruments are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
Understanding the immigrant paradox on health outcomes among UK's immigrant adolescents will greatly complement the research on immigrants that has already been established there by economists and interdisciplinary fields. This study used the first Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2004e2010 database (N ¼ 15,770) to determine a) whether there was evidence of the immigrant paradox on internalizing mental health symptoms between first generation (n ¼ 753) and second plus generation (n ¼ 3042) 14/15 year old immigrant adolescents in England and b) whether differences (if any) were moderated by ethnicity group membership (Black African, Black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Asian Other, White Immigrant). Findings demonstrate that overall first generation adolescent immigrants had statistically fewer internalizing symptoms as compared to second plus generation, and that this was especially true for Black African adolescents. Effect sizes measures however indicated that these differences were negligible. Implications for protective factors and future studies are briefly discussed.
This study utilized a mixed-methods approach to holistically examine singlesex and coeducational urban elementary mathematics classes through situated cognitive theory. Participants came from two urban low-income Midwestern elementary schools with a high representation of minority students (n = 77 sixth graders, n = 4 teachers, n = 2 principals). Findings demonstrate that African American girls made more math achievement gains in single-sex classrooms; single-sex classrooms might mitigate math academic stereotypes for students and teachers; and that important contextual factors play a role in these outcomes. Testing these factors is a step toward delineating a theory of change for single-sex education in urban public schools.
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