This study was conducted to explore the five-factor structure of the Need for Closure scale on Indian samples using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Data were initially collected from 450 samples which were reduced to 235 cases later based on the lie score criteria of the Need for Closure Scale. To rule out the problems caused by all questionnaire items like low reliability and low communalities, parceling of the items (creating three parcels from each facet) was done before the multivariate analysis (EFA and CFA). In the results, EFA showed that the five-factor structure of the NFC scale explains 52% of the variance. The goodness of fit statistics in the CFA model met the criteria (χ2 = 190.153, GFI = 0.908, TLI = 0.855, CFI = 0.890, RMSEA = 0.077) for the reasonable fit of the single factor structure of the NFC construct. In conclusion, this study presented the good psychometric properties of the NFC scale. It can be used to assess the individual's need for closure in the wider contexts of Indian studies.

In this study, a cluster analysis was performed by creating a data set from students' personality traits and academic procrastination behaviours. Correlation analysis was done to examine the relationship between the variables, and the characteristics of the formed clusters and the association of the clusters with the perceived socioeconomic status were examined. Cluster analysis is a simple and practical method for classifying a set of complex data based on certain variables and making them more meaningful and using the results as an aid to decision-making. Clustering algorithms handle such data effectively, making it more meaningful. Following the analysis, it was revealed that two clusters had formed. The first of the clusters includes 65.2 % of the sample population; the level of procrastination and the mean score of neurotic personality traits were calculated higher than the other cluster. The remaining part of the sample population (34.8 %) constitutes the second cluster. The mean scores of studying systematically habits and extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience personality traits of the students forming this cluster are higher than the other cluster. No association was observed between the clusters and the perceived socioeconomic levels of the students. The distributions of socioeconomic levels within the clusters are similar to each other. When the correlations of these variables are examined; positive relationships were found between the level of procrastination and neurotic personality traits. Procrastination behaviour and neurotic personality traits were also negatively correlated with other variables.

The aim of the present study is to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES) as part of the study of affective variables using a sample of English as a foreign language (EFL) university students in Morocco. Two hundred and six (N = 206) participants of undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels completed the self-esteem (SE) questionnaire. Using classical methods of factor extraction before employing more robust techniques comprising minimum average partial (MAP) and parallel analysis (PA) to perform preliminary factor analysis (FA) using principal axis factoring (PAF), results conclusively and parsimoniously yielded a one-factor solution with acceptable construct reliability (Composite Reliability). CFA results, including goodness-of-fit indexes, confirmed that the one-factor model was better fitting compared to its competing independent two-factor counterpart, but marginally less so compared to the correlated version of the latter. Two out of the three constructed models showed good fit indexes, thus demonstrating the conformity of two measurement models with their respective hypothesized structural models. Furthermore, using the heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) ratio, both two-factor models showed acceptable discriminant validity. The obtained results further corroborate both the one-factor and two-factor solutions reported in previous works for which we present new evidence from a Moroccan EFL context.

Previous research focused on individuals’ background, contexts and cognitive performance in education, work, and life. Given the increasing number of people living alone temporarily, the question arises whether the frequent use of skills, including social skills, relates to individuals’ later positively self-evaluated skills and social lives. Based on an integrated framework, the current analysis aimed to disentangle these relationships with longitudinal data from Germany over three years. The target sample consisted of n = 3263 working adults. A Bayesian structural equation model included adults’ frequent use of skills, self-evaluated skills, household size, close friends, and seven covariates (e.g., numeracy and literacy test scores, weekly working hours. The results suggested positive relationships between adults’ frequent use of numeracy, literacy, and social skills and later self-evaluations (except literacy used on self-evaluated numeracy). Those who less frequently used social skills three years earlier were also less likely to have a larger household size than those who reporting frequently using their social skills. Adults who frequently used literacy skills three years earlier reported higher numbers of close friends than those who less frequently used literacy. The findings highlight the importance of adults’ social skills and frequently used skills for self-evaluated numeracy and literacy.