title: Perceived competence of rural South-African and rural African-American families: a cross-cultural assessment of structural validity.
abstract: The present study explores psychometric differences in baseline data from rural African-American (AA) and rural South-African (SA) adolescents to establish the cross-cultural validity of the Harter Perceived Competence Scale (PCSC). Two versions of the PCSC (one English and one Sepedi) were collected from 223 rural AA families and 157 rural SA families. A multinational research team was assembled to establish content validity of the translated versions of the PCSC. Principle components analysis and multiple group confirmatory factor analysis were used to investigate structural validity. The results have implications for intercontinental research and the theoretical construct of perceived competence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA 70813, USA. mgharripsy@aol.com
authors.forename: Murelle G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Dorothy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malaka
authors.forename: Acheampong Yaw
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Amoateng
authors.forename: Ivory
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Toldson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012015:Reference Standards; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012424:Rural Population; D012649:Self Concept; D013019:South Africa; D014481:United States