THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF TURKISH VERSION OF SELF TRANSCENDENCE SCALE

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to adapt the Self- transcendence Scale (Reed, 1991) to Turkish and to examine its psychometric properties. The study has two steps. The research was conducted on 517 participants who are 167 teachers and 350 university students in Sakarya University. The validity and reliability of scale was investigated by language equality, explanatory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, criterion related validity, Cronbach alpha, and test retest methods. The Meaning in Life Questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) were used for the concurrent validity. Results confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that 15 items yielded one-factor, as original form and that the uni-dimensional model was well fit (χ2/df= 1.88, RMSEA= .062, CFI= .97, GFI= .94, IFI= .97, NFI= .96, RFI= .95 and SRMR= .042). Factor loadings ranged from .25 to .67. In the concurrent validity significant positive relationship was found between self-transcendence and meaning in life; negative relationships were found between self-transcendence and depression, anxiety, stress. Cronbach Alfa internal consistency coefficients were found as .87 for scale. Moreover, test-retest reliability coefficient was .80 and corrected item-total correlations ranged from .34 to .56. Overall results demonstrated that Self-transcendence Scale can be used as a valid and reliable instrument; it can be used in the field of positive psychology, religion psychology and education psychology.