2011 Volume 7 Pages 62-72
Objective: There are few studies about the indicators of the relationship between psychosocial school environment and student’s self-concept in Japan. One of these indicators is the psychological sense of school membership scale (PSSM) in United States and European countries. The aim of this study was to develop a Japanese version of PSSM and examine its reliability and validity.
Methods: The participants of this study were 10th, 11th, and 12th grade male and female students at a private high school in the Tokyo metropolitan area (N = 1,539). This study used a 2-time-point longitudinal design, which was first applied in May 2007 (Time 1) and again in March 2008 (Time 2). The Central Location Test and the self-administered questionnaire method were used. The valid responses included 1,522 individuals (99.0%) at Time 1 and 1,378 individuals (90.4%) at Time 2.
Results: A three-factor 13-item-structure (named PSSM-13J) was adopted based on the results of reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Time 1 PSSM-13J and the difference in PSSM-13J related to Time 2 mental health status adjusted for Time 1 mental health status as originally expected in both genders. Moreover, the change in Time 1 PSSM-13J over 10 months predicted Time 2 psychosomatic symptoms in the male students. However, there was no relationship between PSSM-13J and Time 2 psychosomatic symptoms adjusted by Time 1 psychosomatic symptoms in the female students.
Conclusion: The Japanese version of the 13-item psychological sense of school membership scale had certain validity in addition to reliability.
