Factorial Validity of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales for Three American Ethnic Groups

This study examined the psychometric properties (specifically, the factorial invariance) of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scales in a multicultural sample of college students. The original 18-item MHLC was administered, along with measures of ethnicity-related variables, to 1845 colle...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of health psychology Vol. 10; no. 5; pp. 657 - 667
Main Authors Malcarne, Vanessa L., Fernandez, Senaida, Flores, Lise
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.09.2005
Subjects
Adult
Ethnic Groups
Factor analysis
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Health
Health locus of control beliefs
Health Status
Humans
Internal-External Control
Locus of control
Male
Measurement
Multidimensional approach
Psychology
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Scale analysis
Surveys and Questionnaires
U.S.A
United States
USA
Validity
United States
factor analysis
validity
ethnicity
culture
locus of control
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Summary:This study examined the psychometric properties (specifically, the factorial invariance) of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scales in a multicultural sample of college students. The original 18-item MHLC was administered, along with measures of ethnicity-related variables, to 1845 college students from three ethnic groups (Caucasian Americans, Filipino Americans and Latino Americans). Confirmatory factor analysis failed to confirm a three-factor structure for any of the three groups. Subsequent exploratory principal components analysis supported a cross-ethnic-group three-factor structure that had reduced numbers of items loading adequately on each factor. Shortened scales were created, and internal consistency reliability for each scale was acceptable for each ethnic group. Filipino Americans scored higher on all three scales. Regression analyses predicting MHLC scales from demographic and sociocultural variables revealed few predictive relationships.
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ISSN:1359-1053
1461-7277
DOI:10.1177/1359105305055311