title: Prevention of smoking in Middle School Students: psychometric assessment of the Temptations to Try Smoking Scale.
abstract: Establishment of psychometrically sound measures is critical to the development of effective interventions. The current study examined the psychometric properties, including factorial invariance, of a six item Temptations to Try Smoking Scale on a sample of middle school students. The sample of 6th grade students (N=3527) was from 20 Rhode Island middle schools and was 52% male and 84% white. The Temptations to Try Smoking Scale consisted of two correlated subscales: Positive Social and Curiosity/Stress. Structural equation modeling was implemented to evaluate the factorial invariance across four different subgroups defined by gender (male/female), race (white/black), ethnicity (Hispanic/Non-Hispanic), and school size (<200/ >200 6th graders). A model is factorially invariant when the measurement model is the same in each of the subgroups. Three levels of invariance were examined in sequential order: 1) Configural Invariance (unconstrained nonzero factor loadings); 2) Pattern Identity Invariance (equal factor loadings); and 3) Strong Factorial Invariance (equal factor loadings and measurement errors). Strong Factorial Invariance provided a good fit to the model across gender (CFI=.96), race (CFI=.96), ethnicity (CFI=.94), and school size (CFI=.97). Coefficient Alphas for the two subscales, Positive Social and Curiosity/Stress, were .87 and .86, respectively. These findings provide empirical support for the construct validity of the Temptations to Try Smoking Scale in middle school students.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention Research Center, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881, USA.
authors.forename: Heather A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: McGee
authors.forename: Steven F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Babbin
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Redding
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paiva
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oatley
authors.forename: Kathryn S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Meier
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.forename: Wayne F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Velicer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002648:Child; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D018401:Sample Size; D012572:School Health Services; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards