THE PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HENDERSON ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING-PROCESS SCALE

The Henderson Environmental Learning Process Scale (HELPS) was designe d to assess environmental process variables in the home that are relev ant to intellectual development and academic achievement of young chil dren. Previous factor-analytic studies of the HELPS have identified bo th five- and six-factor solutions but have not reported on the reliabi lity of their results. The present authors investigated the psychometr ic characteristics of the HELPS in a sample of 385 parents of school-a ged children. The results of a factor analysis provided a conceptually meaningful six-factor solution. However, the internal consistency rel iabilities of scores on three of the six factors were unacceptably low . Obtained internal consistency reliabilities for scores on the six su bscales ranged from 0.35 to 0.80. Although scores on three of the fact ors have low internal consistency reliabilities, the HELPS may prove t o be a useful instrument with some modification and further testing.