Hae-Ra Han1, Miyong T Kim, Clarann Weinert. 1. The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, Maryland 21205-2110, USA. hhan@son.jhmi.edu
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although the Personal Resource Questionnaire (PRQ 85-Part 2) has been widely used to measure perceived level of social support, results of psychometric evaluation of the measure with a Korean population are not currently available in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychometric properties of the Korean language version of the PRQ 85. METHOD: An empirical validation of the theoretical relationships among the construct, social support, as measured by the PRQ 85, and other related constructs was conducted. In addition, factor structure comparison with a cross-validation technique was utilized on a combined sample of 555 Korean adults from three independent studies. RESULTS: Construct validity for the Korean PRQ 85 was evidenced by statistically significant correlations of perceived social support with the theoretically relevant variables such as depression and psychosocial adjustment. Using principal axis factoring with an oblique rotation, the two-factor solution was found to be most satisfactory in the first random sample and was cross-validated in the second sample, accounting for 52% and 54.1% of the total variance, respectively. Inspecting the distribution of variables within the factors, however, only the first factor appeared to be a construct-related factor; the second factor, which was exclusively represented by negatively keyed items, was method-related. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that a one-factor solution can be used to accurately describe a substantive (or construct-related) factor pattern of the Korean version of the PRQ 85. Although researchers generally agree that negatively worded questions are important in order to minimize the "response bias," this approach appeared to be problematic for Koreans who used the translated PRQ 85. Further research is warranted to explicate this important methodological issue in cross-cultural instrumentation.
BACKGROUND: Although the Personal Resource Questionnaire (PRQ 85-Part 2) has been widely used to measure perceived level of social support, results of psychometric evaluation of the measure with a Korean population are not currently available in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychometric properties of the Korean language version of the PRQ 85. METHOD: An empirical validation of the theoretical relationships among the construct, social support, as measured by the PRQ 85, and other related constructs was conducted. In addition, factor structure comparison with a cross-validation technique was utilized on a combined sample of 555 Korean adults from three independent studies. RESULTS: Construct validity for the Korean PRQ 85 was evidenced by statistically significant correlations of perceived social support with the theoretically relevant variables such as depression and psychosocial adjustment. Using principal axis factoring with an oblique rotation, the two-factor solution was found to be most satisfactory in the first random sample and was cross-validated in the second sample, accounting for 52% and 54.1% of the total variance, respectively. Inspecting the distribution of variables within the factors, however, only the first factor appeared to be a construct-related factor; the second factor, which was exclusively represented by negatively keyed items, was method-related. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that a one-factor solution can be used to accurately describe a substantive (or construct-related) factor pattern of the Korean version of the PRQ 85. Although researchers generally agree that negatively worded questions are important in order to minimize the "response bias," this approach appeared to be problematic for Koreans who used the translated PRQ 85. Further research is warranted to explicate this important methodological issue in cross-cultural instrumentation.