Title
The Construct, Convergent and Divergent Validity, and Reliability of Three Optimism Scales among North American University Students
Date Issued
01 June 2021
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
SAGE Publications Inc.
Abstract
The primary objective of this study is to compare the construct, convergent and divergent validity and the reliability of three optimism scales. The study relied on a nonprobability sample of 100 social work students at Western Michigan University in the United States (Seventy-nine percent of the sample were female, and 21% were male). The sample’s mean age was 26.35 years, SD = 7.70. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of the respondents self-identified as White, and 31% self-identified as African American, Hispanic/Latino, multiethnic, Native American or Asian American. The study used confirmatory factor and multiple regression analyses (CFA and MRA). The findings show that the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) and the Personal Optimism Scale (POS) were supported by three indicators of goodness of fit, while the Brief Interactive Optimism Scale-Garcia (BIOS-G) was supported by eight. The LOT-R showed no acceptable internal consistency indicators, but the POS and the BIOS-G showed several good internal consistency indicators. Correlations of all of these scales with the Physical Well-being Scale-Garcia (PWS-G) ranged from r (100) =.303, p =.002 to r (100) =.439, p =.000. The three scales had divergent validity because their scores did not differ by gender (LOT-R: t(100) = −.885, p =.383; POS: t(100) = −.263, p =.794; BIOS-G: t(100) = −.840, p =.407). The findings suggest the advisability of recommending the BIOS-G, which is short and easy to use and understand.
Start page
1412
End page
1430
Volume
124
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Estadísticas, Probabilidad
Educación general (incluye capacitación, pedadogía)
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85087029241
PubMed ID
Source
Psychological Reports
ISSN of the container
00332941
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus