Development of interpersonal problem solving inventory for high school students: The validity and reliability process

Abstract

The current study investigated reliability and validity of an inventory to measure high school students' problem solving strategies and abilities with Interpersonal Problem Solving Inventory (IPSI), which is originally developed to assess college students' problem solving strategies and abilities. IPSI consist of 50 items constructed in a form of 5 sub-scale. These five sub-scales are called; Approaching problems in a negative way, Constructive problem solving, Lack of self-confidence, Unwilling to take responsibility, and Insistent-persevering approach. The sample consist of 482 pupils, 48.1 % of boys (232), 51.9 % of girls (250). % 34.2 of these students were in 9th grade, %33.8 of them were in 10th grade, and %32 of them were in 11th grade. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) show that the scale consists of five interpersonal problem solving. The relationships between sub-scale scores of high school student showed similar results to the college students' sub-scale score.  Confirmatory factor analysis, criterion validity, similar and different structure validity of the sub-scales were proved. The internal consistency values of Cronbach Alfa for the sub-scales are found between .67 and .89; the test-retest reliability is found between .67 and .84. The reliability and validity of the inventory showed that five sub-scales have the ability to measure the interpersonal problem solving ability and behavior for high school students.