Assessing Sense of School Belonging Across Cultural Contexts Using the PSSM

Abstract

Despite its popularity, the factorial structure of the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) Questionnaire remains controversial. The current study set out to clarify its structure across different cultural contexts. The study was carried out among 1,928 adolescents aged 11 to 20 years in the Netherlands, Kenya, Indonesia, and Spain. Item-based measurement models with a single factor did not show a good fit. A bifactor method (defining a method factor for negatively worded items) did not show a good fit either. However, when items were combined per target to be rated (school, student, teacher, other people, and self), measurement invariance of a one-factorial model was found. Internal consistencies observed across the cultural groups studied were high. In addition, an evaluation of functional equivalence indicated that the relationship between PSSM and life satisfaction was invariant across countries. Implications for assessment and future directions are discussed.

Validation of the Spanish Version of the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) Scale in Chilean Adolescents and Its Association with School-Related Outcomes and Substance Use

“…Three studies were conducted in the U.S. (Hagborg, 1994; O'farrell and Morrison, 2003; Ye and Wallace, 2014); two were conducted in China (Cheung and Hui, 2003; Cheung, 2004); one was conducted in Australia (You et al, 2011); one was conducted in Japan (Togari et al, 2011); and one was a multi-country (Netherland, Kenya, Indonesia, and Spain) comparison study (Abubakar et al, 2015). The latter study included a sample of 14- to 18-year old adolescents from Spain, but some of them responded to the PSSM scale in Spanish while others responded to the scale in Basque (the authors did not provide the exact proportion of respondents for each language) (Abubakar et al, 2015). There is some variability regarding the number of extracted factors that show a good fit, the items included in each factor and the total number of items to be included in the scale.…”

“…For example, one study found that the school membership scale should include just 5 items from the original scale (O'farrell and Morrison, 2003). A different study found that a one-factor model showed a good fit, using all the items but combining items per target (e.g., school, teachers) (Abubakar et al, 2015). However, two latent factors appear in the Chinese version (Cheung and Hui, 2003; Cheung, 2004), and three factors in other studies (Hagborg, 1994; You et al, 2011).…”

The Examining the Sense of Belonging Relating to Their Department of Physical Education Teacher Candidates According to Different Variables

“…tarafından yapılan ölçeğin farklı kül-türlerdeki işlevselliğine yönelik meta-analiz sonuçlarına göre, bazı kültürlerde iki ve bazı kül-türlerde ise üç bileşeninin olduğu rapor edilmiştir. 14 (3,4,7,8,9,15,18) olup, faktör adı "algılanan kabul" olarak tanımlanmıştır. Bu alt ölçekte yer alan yedi maddenin faktör yükleri ,44-,72 arasın-dadır ve Cronbach Alfa iç tutarlılık katsayısı ,75'tir.…”

“…Bu alt ölçekte yer alan yedi maddenin faktör yükleri ,44-,72 arasın-dadır ve Cronbach Alfa iç tutarlılık katsayısı ,75'tir. Üçüncü bileşene ait beş maddenin (2,5,10,11,14) faktör adı "algılanan değer" olarak düşünülmüştür. Bu alt ölçekte yer alan beş maddenin faktör yük-leri ,54-,66 arasındadır ve Cronbach Alfa iç tutarlı-lık katsayısı ,68'dir.…”

“…Çünkü yapıl-mış diğer çalışmalarda elde edilmiş puanlar 3,45-3,80 arasında değişmektedir. 9,14,[20][21][22] Bu açıdan bakıldığında; bölüm öğrencilerinin aidiyet puanlarının, öğretimin başka kademelerindeki öğren-cilere göre daha iyi olduğu söylenebilir.…”