Construction and Validation of Academic Stress Scale for University Students

Present study aimed to construct and validate an instrument to measure the academic stress among university students of Pakistan. Item construction of this instrument was based on literature review, interviews from university students and expert’s opinion. After pilot study exploratory factor analysis was performed on a sample of477 student (226men and 251 women), recruited from different departments of University of Sargodha, Pakistan. 26 items were retained after exploratory factor analysis with three well defined factors(1, Personal, Parental and Teachers’ attitude, 2. Perception of workload and examinations, 3. Concerns about education system and management)Range of Alpha coefficients for scale and its subscales was .72 to .87.Results of Confirmatory factor analysis performed on an independent sample revealed excellent model fit to present data. Three factor structure of Academic stress scale was confirmed by CFA. Convergent validity of Academic Stress Scale was proved by finding its positive correlation with UCLA Loneliness scale, Depression scale and Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. Excellent reliability and validity evidences proved this scale as a promising measure of academic stress

Construction and Validation of Institutional Identity Scale for University Students

The current study presents the validation process of a measure of institutional identity for university students. The research is composed of two studies. Study I consisted of the generation of an item pool based on the literature review, semi-structured interviews, and expert opinion, which were administered to a convenient sample of university students (n = 707; 300 males and 407 females) in Pakistan. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor structure with 20 items, and the factors were named commitment (α = 0.84) and crisis (α = 0.74). The two-factor solution was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis, which revealed an excellent model fit with the two-factor structure. Study II reports on the convergent and divergent validity of the scale which was carried out on an independent sample (n = 120). Results provided evidence of convergent validity as depression correlated negatively with the commitment subscale and positively with the crisis subscale. Divergent validity was ensured by a non-significant correlation between the subscales of the newly developed scale and a measure of religious belief. Moreover, the implications and limitations of the study are discussed