A simulation study was conducted to examine the effect of item parceling on confirmatory factor analysis parameter estimates and their standard errors at different levels of sample size, number of indicators per factor, size of factor structure/pattern coefficients, magnitude of interfactor correlations, and variations in item-level data…

Researchers and educators continue to try to understand and predict premature post-secondary institutional departure. According to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy beliefs are the gateway to understanding why individuals initiate behavior, the effort they expend in engaging in behavior, and their persistence in the face of obstacles. College…

Original formulations of the Work Locus of Control Scale (WLCS) proposed a unidimensional structure of this measure; however, more recently, evidence for a two-dimensional structure has been reported, with separate subscales for internal and external loci of control. The current study evaluates the one- and two-factor models with confirmatory…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the construct validity of the Enrolled Student Survey (ESS) as applied to East Tennessee State University students. It has been suggested that cultural differences among students may cause the latent constructs underlying student satisfaction to be developed differently. The ESS is a…

The reliability and validity of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) was studied with 675 adolescents aged 12 to 18 recruited from clinical and community sources. The STAIC is a self-report measure that has been widely used to assess state and trait anxiety of children. It has been suggested that the child version may be more…

It is proposed that common variance among Factor V personality traits might best be modeled in terms of three broad and distinct subdomains one level below the superordinate level of the so-called Big Five. Three studies are reported that point toward this compromise conception of the top of Factor V as Absorption (A), Intellectance (I), and…

Results of several analyses of the dimensional structure of four forms of the Preliminary American College Test Plus (P-ACT+) are presented. Dimensionality was assessed using factor analysis, multidimensional item response theory (IRT), and the Stout Test for Essential Unidimensionality (STEU). Analyses were conducted with data from the spring…

The multi-stage development of the Community Service Attitudes Scale (CSAS), an instrument for measuring college students' attitudes about community service, is reported. The CSAS was developed based on the helping behavior model of S. Schwartz (1977). The developed instrument was tested with two samples of 437 and 332 college students. The scales…

Previous research has shown that ethnic background impacts scores on measures of psychological functioning. False positives and false negatives may be obtained as a function of cultural differences. This paper examines the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA), an instrument that might be used clinically to augment…

The lack of systematic psychometric information on the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ) was addressed by investigating the factor structure and reliability of the eight-factor clinical scale model (mental illness, cry for help, right to die, religion, impulsivity, normality, aggression, and moral evil), developed for interpreting responses to…

The Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQ II) was administered to 901 students (11 to 18 years old) in grades 7 through 12 who attended one public coeducational high school. The 11 factors the SDQ II was designed to measure were clearly identified in a conventional/exploratory factor analysis and in a confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL.…

Analyses of interscale relations in 235 college students for the Vocational Preference Inventory and Vocational Interest Inventory, based on interest models of Holland and Roe, respectively, suggest that the two-dimensional, circular configuration of occupational or personality types may be an oversimplification which impedes the understanding of…

Based on three independent samples of high school adolescents in central Canada, aged 12 to 18 years, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to identify, test, and cross-validate first-order and second-order factorial structures underlying the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Specifically, the study…

Using instructional variables identified by the literature as important in predicting classroom achievement, a bi-polar rating scale was designed to assess the structure of instruction in resource rooms. The data for 158 elementary school children in four school districts were analyzed. The scale evidenced good reliability, both in terms of…

This paper investigated the reliability and construct validity of a 30-item scale in measuring the attitudes of teachers in Australia toward the integration of handicapped children into regular schools. The Attitude Toward Mainstreaming Scale, which was designed by Larrivee and Cook (1979), has been used in evaluation studies in the United Sates…