Psychometric Evaluation Of The Turkish Version Of The Defensive Pessimism Scale

Abstract

Problem Statement: Much theoretical interest and attention has been given to the cognitive strategies that individuals use in achievement related domains. Defensive-pessimism is a functional strategy in a demanding academic setting for those who easily become anxious. However, this is a new concept for Turkish researchers and there is currently no instrument for defensive pessimism. Therefore, an instrument is needed to measure defensive pessimism. Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study was to provide construct validation and normative data for the Turkish adaptation of DefensivePessimism Scale (DPS) in a sample of Turkish university students. In the educational settings, many teachers are not aware of defensive pessimism as a cognitive strategy because it is not included in their education. The use of this scale may have many implications in the educational setting. Method: First, translation and back translation of the questionnaire were carried out. Thereafter, LISREL 8.30 was used to perform a confirmatory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis was used as this is a theorydriven method for assessing the fit of a-priori-specified model. SPSS 17.0 was also used for descriptive statistics. Findings and Results: Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for both single and two-factor models of the Turkish version of the DPS. For the single model, after a slight modification, the following indices were obtained: χ² (51) = 121.04, p <.01; χ²/df = 2.37; GFI =.93; AGFI =.89; RMSEA =.07; and CFI =.95. For the two factor model, χ² (51) = 138.39, p <.01; χ²/df = 2.71; GFI =.91; AGFI =.87; RMSEA =.08; and CFI =.94 were found. The internal consistency of the DPS was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha, which was.81 for the total; .78 for the negative expectation; and .64 for reflectivity. McDonald’s Omega was also computed for the single