Reliability of Achievement Motivation-Related Measures in a Sample of African American Youth (2009)

Undergraduates: Charity Brown, Ndidi Okeke

Faculty Advisor: Beth Kurtz-Costes
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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The purpose of the current project was to investigate in a sample of African American adolescents the test-retest reliability of measures of academic self-concept, causal attributions about success and failure in school, attributions about group differences in academic outcomes, perceptions of racial group competence, race centrality, and racial socialization. Strong test-retest reliability was expected for each measure. The Academic Self-Concept measure, the Discrimination/Lack of Resources subscale and the Attitudes and Behavior subscale of the Stereotype Attributions measure, the Preparation for Bias subscale and Cultural Socialization subscale of the race socialization measure, and the race centrality measure were all stable over time. Test-retest reliability was weaker for the attribution and group competence measures. Study limitations and implications are discussed.