Confirmatory factor analysis of cognitive ability and its psychosocial correlates

Abstract

The present study was designed to find out the role of gender and age on cognitive abilities and confirmatory factor analysis of cognitive ability test (CAT)among school students. While employing descriptive survey method, the present study was conducted on a sample of 118 school students. The sample was selected by using random sampling techniques. Cognitive abilities test developed by Gupta and Lakhani, was used for data collection. ANOVA was used to find out the role of gender and age on cognitive abilities with the help of SPSS. Model fit was excellent in the sample for CAT (Chi-square test=4.871, df=5, p=0.511; Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.109; Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR)=0.073; Goodness of fit index (GFI)=0.947, McDonald fit index (MFI)=0.946). There was significant difference among the 13th, 14th and 15th age in mean score of memory. There were significant differences between male and female in mean score of awareness, memory and understanding. The CAT is suitable to measure the cognitive abilities in children of India. This study also contributes to the better understanding of the predictors like gender and age of cognitive abilities in a well-defined group of children.