Abstract

MOLA, Débora Jeannete; SAAVEDRA, Bianca Analía; REYNA, Cecilia  and  BELAUS, Anabel. Psychometric Evaluation of the Psychological Entitlement Scale Using Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory. Pensam. psicol. [online]. 2013, vol.11, n.2, pp.19-38. ISSN 1657-8961.

Objective. The aim of this research was to examine the psychometric properties of the Psychological Entitlement Scale (PES) in the local context using Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). Method. Participants were 402 university students with a mean age of 22.77 years (SD = 4.85), both genders (61.9% female), and from different university careers, and 324 residents of the city of Córdoba, aged 18 to 65 years (M = 32.77, SD = 10.71), both genders (56.2% women), with different socio-economic backgrounds. All participants were selected at random, and evaluated with PES and Triple Dominance Scale measures. Results. From the TCT, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that eight of the nine items comprising the original scale showed an unifactorial structure with adequate factor loadings and/or regression weights. Also, acceptable values of internal consistency were observed. Individuals classified as pro-social presented significantly lower values in the PES than individualistic and competitive people (small effect size). From the IRT, the rating scale model showed a good global fit to the scale model, although the item analysis indicated unacceptable indices for one item, and some categories which were not very informative. Conclusion. Although TCT results demonstrated good psychometric properties, analysis from the IRT suggested adjustments to the instrument, in particular, the regrouping of response categories which were not very informative alone.

Keywords : Psychological Entitlement Scale; Psychological Entitlement Scale; adults; psychometric properties; Classical test theory; Item response theory.

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