Latent structure and validity of the french version of the self-monitoringscale.

This article presents two studies aimed at validating a French version of S nyder's Self-Monitoring Scale (18 items) (Snyder and Gangestad, 1986), tran slated into French as "Echelle de monitoragede soi". The psychometric prope rties, construct validity, and latent structure of the scale, presented in two formats (binary and Likert), were evaluated in the first study. The res ults revealed the psychometric superiority of the binary version, as initia lly proposed by Snyder (1974). In addition to its satisfactory internal con sistency and good temporal stability, this version exhibited better predict ive validity than the Likert version. Indeed, unlike tire Likert version, t he binary version was able to detect the expected link between high self-mo nitoring and psychological androgyny. Concerning the latent structure, conf irmatory factor analyses indicated that the three-correlated-factor solutio n provided the best fit to the data. The second study served as an empirica l test of the predictive value of the proposed scale. Eleven triads of subj ects who differed in self-monitoring level were filmed in interaction situa tions. Independent judges viewed the filmed sequences in order to rate each actor's sense of initiative, ease in interactions, sociability, and timidi ty. As expected, the subjects with high self-monitoring appeared to the jud ges as more at case, more sociable, and less timid than the other subjects.