Assessing measurement invariance of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II among Hispanics, African Americans, and European Americans.

Abstract

This study tested the cross-cultural validity of scores on the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II (PGIS-II; Robitschek et al., 2012) with Hispanic, African American, and European American community samples. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses were performed on data from 218 Hispanics, 129 African Americans, and 552 European Americans to examine measurement equivalence among these groups. Measurement invariance of the PGIS-II was established with the original 4 factors of readiness for change, planfulness, using resources, and intentional behavior. These findings suggest the PGIS-II can be administered across these groups and provide meaningful comparisons and interpretations. All samples yielded good internal consistency estimates. The African American sample reported higher means than Hispanic and European American samples for all subscale and total mean scores, and Hispanics scored higher in planfulness, readiness for change, and total score than European Americans, indicating potential cultural factors influencing the scores. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.