Brief report: A confirmatory approach to the validation of the peer group norm questionnaire

Abstract

This study evaluates the internal validity of the “Perception of Peer Group Norms Questionnaire” (PPGNQ), a 17-item measure that assesses middle school students' perceptions of positive and negative norms among their grade mates. The sample consisted of 1073 Grade 6 students. The factorability of the two hypothesized factors was assessed with Exploratory Factor Analysis and a clear two-factor structure emerged. Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis this two-factor model evidenced good fit once items of similar wording and subject matter were permitted to correlate. Support was found for metric, strict, scalar, construct and latent means invariance between genders, suggesting that boys and girls perceived items similarly. The results indicate that the PPGNQ may be recommended as a research questionnaire that demonstrates high internal validity and measurement invariance, and can be used to study the influence of the perception of both negative and positive norms on adolescent behavior in school settings.