Validation of the Chinese version of the Sense of Self (SOS) Scale

Abstract

This study explored the cross-cultural applicability of the Sense of Self (SOS) Scale in the Hong Kong Chinese cultural context. The SOS Scale is a 26-item questionnaire designed to measure students’ sense of purpose, self-reliance, and self-concept in school. Six hundred ninety-seven Hong Kong Chinese high school students participated in the study. Both within-network and between-network approaches to construct validation were adopted. Responses to this questionnaire are shown to have good internal consistency reliability, and support is provided for its construct validity in terms of its factorial structure and correlations with other educational outcomes such as learning strategies. In addition, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis also indicated invariance of the instrument across males and females, across students of different year levels, and across students from different types of school. Implications for cross-cultural research are discussed.