Positive youth development has gained a lot of attention recently since it acts as a protective factor for several risk behaviors and other important life outcomes in adolescents and young adults. The main objective of this study was to explore the factorial structure of the Positive Youth Development Scale (PYDS) using multidimensional item response theory (MIRT). Three different models were examined: a unidimensional model, a multidimensional model with six distinct dimensions, and a multidimensional bifactor model, where each item was restricted to load simultaneously on a global positive development factor as well as a domain-specific one. Results indicated that the bifactor model provided superior model fit compared to the competing models, including a testlet and purified models. The study concludes with the advantages of MIRT models in dimensionality assessment and provides some suggestions for the improvement of the PYDS’ item characteristics.

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the roles of response times in the achievement of students in the following latent ability domains: (a) verbal, (b) math and spatial reasoning, (c) mental flexibility, and (d) scientific and mechanical reasoning. Participants were 869 students who took on the Multiple Mental Aptitude Scale. A mixture item response model was implemented to evaluate the roles of response times in performance by modeling ability and non-ability classes. Results after applying this model to the data across domains indicated the presence of several behaviors related to rapid responding which were covaried with low achievement likely representing unsuccessful guessing attempts.

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The relationship between latent trait and test-taking speed is an important area of study in assessment research. In addition to contributions of such studies to psychometrics, the factors that affect both ability and speed have implications for test development and have policy consequences especially if the tests are high stakes. This study investigated the main assessment scale used in gifted education screening in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and focused on the discriminating properties of items across the several cognitive subskills being measured. Under an item response theoretic framework, this study used a lognormal response time model to investigate the discrimination parameter estimates for both ability and speed, with guessing taken into account. Results showed that cognitive subskills do not have uniform discrimination properties across ability and speed, such that some types of items are better at discriminating ability while other types are better at discriminating speed. At a test-level, our results also showed that ability is negatively correlated with speed, such that higher ability students tend to take more time and hence have slower speed. This finding supports other results in the literature. Implications for high-stakes testing and test development are discussed.