Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of the Positivity Scale (P Scale) for Turkish Adolescents and Young Adults ACA-APCC 2015 Conference, Singapore Baki Duy, Anadolu University, TURKEY bakiduy@anadolu.edu.tr M. Ali Yıldız, Adıyaman University, TURKEY alipdr@Hotmail.com

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Overview Historical roots of positive psychology go back to even ancient Greek era. It has roots in the Humanistic Psychology that emphasized positive aspects such as happiness, self- actualization, flourishing. Positive psychology focuses mostly on happiness, well- being and fulfillment. Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Overview Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi defined positive psychology as "the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing on multiple levels that include the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life."  Positive psychologists are concerned with four topics: (1) positive experiences, (2) enduring psychological traits, (3) positive relationships and (4) positive institutions. Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Object There are some instruments to measure positive aspects such as happiness, life-satisfaction, well-being, resiliency in Turkey. However, there has been no measure to identify positivity aspects directly in adolescents in Turkey. Thus, «the object of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Positivity Scale (P Scale) developed by Caprara et al. (2012) for Turkish adolescents». Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Method Participants: 307 High School students (F= 189, 61.6%, M= 118, 38.4%) aged between 14 and19 with M= 15.84, SD= 1.21. 354 College students (F= 190, 53.7%, M= 164, 46.3%) aged between 18 and 29 with M= 21.36, SD= 1.98 Additionally, criterion validity study was comprised of 98 high school students, and 96 college students. Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Method Instruments: The Positivity Scale (P Scale): Developed by Caprara et al. (2012). Has 8 items answered on a 5-point likert type scale (1= Totally Disagree, 5= Totally Agree). Factors loadings varied between .43 and .68. Cronbach alpha values were found as .78 and .79 in different studies. Test-retest reliabilities varied between .63 and .78. CFA yielded satisfactory goodness of fit values in two groups (First Group= χ2 (19, N= 322) = 41.22, p<.01; CFI= .96; RMSEA= .065, 95% GA [.059, 077]; SRMR= .046. Second Group= χ2 (19, N= 457) = 52.99, p<.01; CFI= .96; RMSEA= .063, 95% GA [.043, 083]; SRMR= .043). Discriminant and convergent validity studies yielded significant correlations with self-esteem, life-satisfaction, depression, positive/negative affect, and five factor personality scores. Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Method Instruments: Life Orientation Test (Scheier & Carver, 1987; adapted to Turkish by Aydın & Tezer, 1991). The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Dieneer et al., 1985; adapted to Turkish for adolescents by Köker, 1991) Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Developed by Watson & Clark, 1988; adapted to Turkish by Gençöz, 2000) Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Children’s Version (Laurent et al., 1999; adapted to Turkish for Adolescents by Yıldız, 2014) Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965; adapted to Turkish by Çuhadaroğlu, 1986) Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Results Construct Validity of P-Scale (EFA Findings): Table 1. EFA findings of P Scale   High School Group (N= 307) KMO= .85 BTS= x2=710.101, df=28, p<.000 College Group (N= 354) BTS= x2=842.270, df=28, p<.000 Items Factor Loadings Common Factor Variance 1 .70 .49 .79 .63 2 .66 .44 .75 .56 3 .61 .37 .32 4 .76 .58 .57 5 .77 .59 6 -.33 .11 -.35 .12 7 .71 .51 8 .50 Eigenvalue 3.58 3.60 Variance Explained 44.75% 45.04% Cronbach’s α .81  Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Results Both Scree plot and parallel tests confirmed the unidimensional structure of the P-Scale for both high school and college groups. Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Configural Equivalence Results Measurement Equivalence Results (Multiple group CFA: Maximum Likelihood Method) Table 2. Measurement equivalence results and fit values of P Scale Model Tests Model Fit Index Model Differences x² sd RMSEAa CFI ∆x² ∆sdb ∆CFI Groups   High School 75.89 20 .096 (.073-.12) .95 College 74.61 .107 (.082-.13) .94 Configural Equivalence 150.50 40 .101 (.084-.12) - Metric Equivalence 174.49 48 .099 (.083-.11) 23.99 8 (26.12) a RMSEA values for 90% confidence interval are given in bracets. b Critique values of x² regarding ∆sd are given in bracets. Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Results Configural Invariance Results Table 4. Configural invariance factor loadings, t values and R2 values of P Scale for each group Items High School College t λ R2 1 11.70 .62 .42 12.91 .80 .58 2 10.40 .61 .34 11.75 .68 .51 3 9.22 .56 .28 6.30 .39 .18 4 13.16 .69 .50 12.35 .77 .54 5 13.78 .53 10.45 .60 6 4.27 .26 .07 4.11 .08 7 11.81 8.64 .31 8 12.09 .70 .44 10.05 .40 Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore

Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore Results Criterion Validity Study   Table 5. Criterion validity results for two groups. Variables High School (N= 98) College (N= 96) Optimism .43** .63** Pessimism -.36** -.57** Optimism Total .48** .68** Positive Affect .55** Negative Affect -.47** -.40** Life Satisfaction .60** .73** Self-esteem .62** .54** **p< .01 Duy & Yıldız, ACA-APCC 2015, Singapore