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Cheating and achievement‐avoidance at school: components and assessment
Author(s) -
Rost Detlef H.,
Wild Klaus Peter
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1994.tb01089.x
Subject(s) - psychology , cheating , worry , grammar school , test anxiety , academic achievement , scale (ratio) , test (biology) , social psychology , german , grammar , developmental psychology , anxiety , mathematics education , paleontology , physics , history , linguistics , archaeology , philosophy , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , biology
The development and psychometric properties of a general school cheating scale are reported. German grammar school students (grades 10–12, N =197) responded to 44 five‐point scaled items concerning different facets of cheating and achievement avoidance at school. Based on an explorative principal component analysis, a 14‐item general scale ‘Cheating and Effort Avoidance at School’ was developed, covering the use of forbidden aids, unrealistic hopes and defensive tactics, and avoidance of test situations. The satisfying psychometric properties of the sale ( a =.83 to a =.86, test‐retest reliability after four to six weeks, r =.75) was confirmed with a second ( N =487 and third ( N =902) sample of grammar school students (grades 10–13). Some validity data are reported: positive relations to the factors ‘worry’ and ‘emotionality’ of test anxiety as well as to the fear of failure aspect of achievement motivation; negative relation to school achievement (grade in maths and German), to satisfaction with own academic achievement, to academic self‐concept and to the hope for success component of achievement motivation.