Towards an international scale of telic-paratelic dominance

The Telic Dominance Scale (TDS; Murgatroyd, Rushton, Apter, & Ray, Journal of Personality Assessment, 42, 519-528, 1978), originally developed using U .K, samples, has been found to have limited effectiveness when used on U.S. samples. In an attempt to address its shortcomings, a new scale measuring telic-paratelic dominance,the Paratelic Dominance Scale (PDS; Cook & Gerkov ich, Advances in Reversal Theory, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, 1993), was developed using both U.K. and U.S. samples. The PDS has a three-factor str ucture; the factors identified as playfulness, spontaneity and arousal seek ing. The present study cross-validated the TDS and the PDS using different diverse international samples. First, individual TDS and PDS items were eva luated to determine their potential contribution for inclusion in effective international scales. Second, an internationally relevant measure of telic -paratelic dominance was developed. Several factor analyses were performed on TDS and PDS data from a combined Australian, Netherlands and North Ameri can (USA) sample (N = 1203). Items of the TDS proved to be of limited Value in that a large number of factors (some unique), each accounting for littl e variance, emerged. Analyses of PDS items were more fruitful, yielding rea dily interpretable factor structures. However, psychometrically sound two- and three-factor structures, replicable across validation and separate Aust ralian, Netherlands and North American (USA) samples, emerged only when red uced item sets were used. The availability of shortened scales, comprised o f internally consistent yet non-redundant scale items, is thought to be adv antageous in, for example, international comparative work. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.