A Psychometric Analysis of a Scale for Measuring Girl Students' Beliefs and Coping Behaviors

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, Organization for Educational Research and Planning, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This correlational research aimed to do a proficiency test of a psychometric analysis of a scale for measuring girl students' beliefs and coping behaviors with a non-experimental method. The population was all girl students in Tehran and 398 girls were selected by the convenience sampling as the sample. The data were gathered by the scale for measuring beliefs and coping behaviors and a short-form religious coping scale. The statistical methods of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to determine the factor validity of the scale for measuring beliefs and coping behaviors, and Cronbach's alpha was used to calculate the internal consistency. Moreover, construct validity was measured using the correlation coefficient between the scale for measuring beliefs and coping behaviors and the religious coping scale. The results of analyzing the main components using Varimax rotation method showed that the scale for measuring beliefs and coping behaviors consists of four factors of structure, the sense of social belonging, the personal relationship with higher power, and world-view, and the indicators of confirmatory factor analysis (based on the LISREL software) confirmed these four factors. The results of the correlation between the dimensions of beliefs and coping behaviors and the dimensions of positive and negative religious coping experimentally confirmed the construct validity of measuring beliefs and coping behaviors, and the internal consistency coefficients of the scale were desirable. In sum, according to the findings of the research, this scale is a valid tool to measure the role of religion in the face of stressful events of life among girl students.

Keywords

Main Subjects


  1. ابوالقاسمی، عباس.، و جوانمیری، لیلا (1391). نقش مطلوبیت اجتماعی، سلامت روانی و خودکارآمدی در پیش‌‌بینی پیشرفت تحصیلی دانش‌‌آموزان دختر. نشریه روان‌‌شناسی مدرسه، 1(2)، 6-20.
  2. صدیقی ارفعی، فریبرز.، تمنایی‌‌فر، محمدرضا.، و عابدین‌‌آبادی، عاطفه (1391). رابطه جهت‌‌گیری مذهبی، سبک‌‌های مقابله و شادکامی در دانشجویان. نشریه روان‌‌شناسی و دین، 5(3)، 135-163.
  3. عبدالخالقی، معصومه.، شکری، امید.، صفایی، مریم.، و صالحی، راحمه (1394). تحلیل روان‌‌سنجی نسخه کوتاه مقیاس مقابله مذهبی در بیماران سرطانی، نشریه روان‌‌شناسی سلامت، 1(11)، 113-126.
  4. محمودی، ناهیدالملوک.، بهمن‌‌پور، حمید.، و باسامی، طاهره (1389). بررسی عوامل مؤثر بر ریسک‌‌پذیری دانشجویان. نشریه جامعه‌‌شناسی کاربردی، 21(2)، 35-56.
  5. Adham, D., Salem Safi, P., Amiri, M., Dadkhah, B., Mohammadi, M. A., Mozaffari, N., Sattari, Z., & Dadashian, S. (2008). The Survey of Mental Health Status in Ardabil University of Medical Sciences Students. Journal of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, 8(3), 229-234
  6. Ellison, C. G. (1991). Religious involvement and subjective well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32, 80-99.
  7. Folkman, S. (1997). Positive psychological states and coping with severe stress. Social Science and Medicine, 45(8), 1207-1221.
  8. Folkman, S. (2008). The case for positive emotions in the stress process. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping: An International Journal, 21(1), 3-14.
  9. Gall, T. L., Charbonneau, C., Clark, N. H., Grant, K., Joseph, A., & Shouldice, L. (2005). Understanding the Nature and Role of Spirituality in Relation to Coping and Health: A Conceptual Framework. Canadian Psychology, 46(2), 88-104.
  10. Harrison, M. O., Koenig, H. G., Hays, J. C., Eme-Akwari, A. G., & Pargament, K. I. (2001). Epidemiology of religious coping: a review of recent literature. International Review of Psychiatry, 13, 86-93.
  11. Khan, Z. H., & Watson, P. J. (2006). Construction of the Pakistani religious coping practices scale: Correlations with religious coping, religious orientation, and reactions to stress among Muslim university students. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 16(2), 101-112.
  12. Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health: a century of research reviewed. New York: Oxford University Press.
  13. Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.
  14. Larson, D. B., Sherill, K. A., Lyons, J. S., Craigie, F. C., Thielman, S. B., Greenwold, M. A., & Larson, S. S. (1992). Associations between dimensions of religious commitment and mental health reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry and Archives of General American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 557-559.
  15. Martinez, N. C., & Sousa, V. D. (2011). Cross-cultural validation and psychometric evaluation of the among medically ill elderly patients: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Health Psychology, 9(6), 713–730.
  16. Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping: Theory, research, practice. New York: Guilford.
  17. Pargament, K. I., Ano, G. G., & Wachholtz, A. B. (2005). The Religious Dimension of Coping: Advances in Theory, Research, and Practice. In R. F. Paloutzian & C. L. Park (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. New York: Guilford Press.
  18. Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. M. (2000). The many methods of religious coping: Development and initial validation of the RCOPE. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56(4), 519-543.
  19. Pargament, K. I., Smith, B. W., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. (1998). Patterns of positive and negative religious coping with major life stressors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37(4), 710-724.
  20. Park, C. L., & Cohen, L. H. (1993). Religious and nonreligious coping with the death of friend. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 17, 561-577.
  21. Park, C. L., & Folkman, S. (1997). Meaning in the context of stress and coping. Review of General Psychology, 1, 115-144.
  22. Rohani, C., Khanjari, S., Abedi, H. A., Oskouie, F., & Langius-Eklof, A. (2010). Health index, sense of coherence scale, brief religious coping scale and spiritual perspective scale: psychometric properties. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1- 12.
  23. Shah, K. M. (2012). Initial Development and Validation of the Assessment of Beliefs and Behaviors in Coping (ABC). Presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Faculty of the Graduate School. University of Texas at Austin.
  24. Shah, K. M., Douglas, R. P., Maheshwari, D., & McCarthy, C. J. (2010). Assessing the role of religion and spirituality in coping with life demands. Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. Boston, MA.
  25. Tarakeshwar, N., Pargament, K. I., & Mahoney, A. (2003). Initial development of a measure of religious coping among Hindus. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(6), 607-628.
  26. Tix, A. P., & Frazier, P. A. (1998). The use of religious coping during stressful life events: Main effects, moderation, and mediation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66(2), 411-422.
  27. Yeo, J. C. (2012). The psychometric study of the attachment to god inventory and the brief religious coping scalein a Taiwanese Christian sample. Dissertation Abstracts International. Section B, The Sciences and Engineering.