Sekentei and family caregiving of elders among the Japanese: development and psychometric evaluation of the sekentei scale.
OBJECTIVE
This study describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a measure for assessing sekentei, a construct rooted in the Japanese culture. Sekentei is a social construct that causes a person to worry about others' evaluations of his or her behavior. The concept of sekentei may be an important factor related to family caregiving of elders in Japan.


METHODS
We used a multiphased process to develop, refine, and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Sekentei Scale. Following the development and refinement of the measure, we administered the Sekentei Scale and other measures for assessing validity to 150 Japanese National and 116 Caucasian American family caregivers of elders. We used Cronbach's alpha to estimate internal consistency reliability. We examined validity by (a) correlating scores on the Sekentei and Shame Scales and (b) testing the Sekentei Scale's ability to yield hypothesized differences between the Japanese and the Americans.


RESULTS
The results provided adequate support for the reliability and validity of the Sekentei Scale.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings provide useful data regarding the construct and measurement of sekentei and provide preliminary psychometric support for the measure's use in future research.
Asai
Masayuki O
MO
Department of Sociology and Human Welfare, Meisei University, 2-1-1 Hodokubo, Hino-shi, Tokyo 191-8506 Japan. moa@soci.meisei-u.ac.jp
Kameoka
Velma A
VA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012752:Shame; D012925:Social Conformity; D012945:Social Values