From West to East: Recent Advances in Psychometrics and Psychological Instruments in Asia

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Background

The majority of our knowledge about psychology is based on research conducted in Western Euro-American countries. Indeed, most of the samples reported in the most popular and recognized top psychology journals are from Western populations.
With the increasing awareness of cultural influences on psychological processes, cross-cultural differences in psychology and psychopathology have been of great interest to researchers since the 1980s. A substantial amount of research has been devoted to understanding various psychological constructs in non-Western, especially Asian communities, and investigating how these constructs differ between Western and Asian populations.

Still, long-standing measurement issues with regards to cross-cultural research remain. Most psychological assessments and tasks were developed in Western and European language speaking contexts. Application of these measurement tools in an Asian cultural context faces various challenges, such as language, modes of expressions and cultural norms. It becomes essential to develop cross-culturally valid measurement tools before any further comparisons or generalizations can be made.

Over the past two decades, a dramatic increase in research on psychological testing and measurement in Asian countries took place. Furthermore, there have also been advances in addressing the cross-cultural measurement invariance issues. However, such research is still underrepresented in the mainstream international psychology research community.

The current Research Topic aims to provide a showcase for recent advances in psychometrics and cross-cultural measurements of psychology in Asian communities.

We welcome submissions from the following fields/topics:

1) Theoretical discussions of psychological measurements in Asia;

2) Research on developing quantitative models and techniques to address issues such as cross-cultural measurement validation and measurement invariance;

3) Empirical studies on developing or evaluating psychological instruments (e.g., assessments, tests, tasks, etc) in clinical, cognitive, organizational, educational, forensic and health psychology in Asia. This includes a strong focus on the theoretical implications of such work;

4) Empirical studies on evaluating psychological instruments and comparing underlying psychological constructs across cultures (Asian vs. Non-Asian) in the aforementioned fields. This includes a strong focus on the theoretical implications of such work;

4) Studies on the development of indigenous psychology constructs and measurements in Asia.

Keywords: Psychological Instruments, Cross-Cultural Measurment, Measurement Invariance, Asian

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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