Measurement of self‐perception in multi‐racial context: psychometric properties of a modified Self‐Description Questionnaire

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1993

Abstract

The Self‐Description Questionnaire (SDQ) has been applied in a relatively large variety of cultural settings to measure the components and structure of academic and non‐academic self‐perception among youth. The present report examines the applicability of a modified and short form of that instrument among African American and white middle school students in the US. A modified and short form of the instrument was developed by shortening the instrument to 32 items, and extending its content to reflect self‐perceptions in academic areas of science and social studies. Exploratory factor analysis and latent structural equation modelling were used to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale among racial and gender groups of middle school students. The results indicated that the factorial structure of the instrument was consistent with theoretical predictions and empirical findings across other cultures. Within both racial groups, the various subscales yielded reliability estimates typically above .80, which is quite satisfactory for short subscales. However, additional analysis indicated that relationships among the subscales of the instrument varied considerably across racial and gender groups. It was concluded that in multi‐racial and/or multicultural applications of the SDQ comparisons between groups should be done on the components (rather than overall measure) of self construct. 1993 The British Psychological Society

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

British Journal of Educational Psychology

First Page

337

Last Page

348

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