HARTERS SELF-PERCEPTION PROFILE FOR ADOLESCENTS - RELIABILITY, VALIDITY, AND EVALUATION OF THE QUESTION FORMAT

The Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA; Harter, 1988) was a dministered to a national representative sample of 11,315 Norwegian ad olescents of the ages 13 to 20. The original version of SPPA has an id iosyncratic and time-consuming item format, describing two adolescents with opposite characteristics on each item. A revised version of SPPA was developed using only one statement for each item. The original SP PA was administered to a random subsample of 880 subjects, whereas the rest of the total sample completed the revised edition. Concerning th e original SPPA, results showed low to adequate reliability and poor r eplication of the factorial pattern. However, low correlations with th e Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability index were obtained, and the cons truct validity was supported. Concerning the revised edition, the a pr iori factorial pattern was replicated. Further, it had substantially b etter reliability, better convergent validity, and better factorial va lidity than the original version. The discriminant validity and the co ntamination by social desirability bias were the same for both version s. The data thus indicate that there is no need to retain the time-con suming and cumbersome item format of the original SPPA.