School of Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.
Psychol Health Med. 2012;17(3):274-84. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2011.601748. Epub 2011 Aug 15.
The monitoring-blunting theory of coping suggests that when faced with a threatening situation, individuals can respond by either monitoring or avoiding (blunting) threatening information. The current study sought to validate a scale of children's preferences for monitoring or blunting in dental situations (the Monitoring Blunting Dental Scale or MBDS). The psychometric characteristics of the scale were assessed in a sample of 240 New Zealand children aged 11-13. Reliability was adequate for both monitoring (α = 0.74) and blunting (α = 0.76) subscale scores. Convergent validity was indicated by strong correlations (>0.6) between the measure's subscales and those of a related scale, although discriminant validity with respect to dental anxiety was problematic for the blunting subscale. Exploratory factor analysis supported a two-factor monitoring-blunting model, although confirmatory factor analysis indicated reasonable but imperfect fit for this model, SBχ²(251) = 510.7, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.066. We reflect on conceptual issues which may underlie the difficulties experienced here and elsewhere in developing psychometrically sound measures of Miller's blunting construct and suggest that the monitoring subscale of the study scale may be most useful to other researchers.
应对的监控迟钝理论表明，当面临威胁情况时，个体可以通过监控或避免（迟钝）威胁信息来做出反应。本研究旨在验证一种用于评估儿童在牙科情境下的监控或迟钝偏好的量表（监测迟钝牙科量表或 MBDS）。在一个年龄在 11-13 岁的 240 名新西兰儿童样本中评估了该量表的心理测量特性。监控（α=0.74）和迟钝（α=0.76）分量表的信度均足够。该量表的分量表与相关量表之间存在很强的相关性（>0.6），表明具有良好的聚合效度，但在与牙科焦虑的区分效度方面存在问题。探索性因素分析支持监控-迟钝的两因素模型，尽管验证性因素分析表明该模型的拟合程度尚可但并不完美，SBχ²(251) = 510.7，p < 0.001，RMSEA = 0.066。我们反思了可能导致在开发米勒的迟钝结构的心理测量学上可靠的测量工具方面存在困难的概念问题，并认为研究量表的监控分量表可能对其他研究人员最有用。
