Psychometric properties of the Adolescents’ Academic Motivation Scale (AAMS) in a representative sample of Dominican Republic high school students

Abstract

Entre el creciente cuerpo de investigación que se ha centrado en el éxito académico, la motivación académica ha captado considerable atención. El objetivo de esta investigación es presentar la primera valida-ción de la Escala de Motivación Académica de los Adolescentes (EMAA). La muestra total estuvo compuesta por 1712 estudiantes de secundaria de dos distritos de la República Dominicana. La medida principal fue la EMAA. Los resultados del AFC fueron satisfactorios: χ2(5) = 57.73, p < .001; CFI = .970; RMSEA = .079, 90% CI [.061, .097], y SRMR = .024. Los análisis de TRI favorecieron al modelo logístico de dos parámetros, in-dicando que los ítems no fueron igualmente discriminativos. El Modelo de Ecuaciones Estructurales en el que la motivación académica predecía de forma estadísticamente significativa las calificaciones obtuvo un ajuste ex-celente: χ2(53) = 182.76, p < .001; CFI = .980; RMSEA = .038 [.032, .044], and SRMR = .025. En resumen, este trabajo presenta un exhaustivo análisis psicométrico de la EMAA en una muestra representativa de estudiantes dominicanos de instituto.

Within the growing body of research that has focused on aca-demic success, academic motivation has gathered considerable attention. The aim of this this research is to present the first validation of the Ado-lescents’ Academic Motivation Scale (AAMS). Total sample was composed by 1712 students of secondary education from two districts in the Domini-can Republic. The main measurement outcome was the AAMS. Results from the CFA were satisfactory: χ2(5) = 57.73, p < .001; CFI = .970; RMSEA = .079 [.061, .097], and SRMR = .024. IRT analyses favored the two-parameter logistic model, indicating that items were not equally dis-criminant. Structural Equation Model with latent variables in which aca-demic motivation was a significant predictor of grades resulted in excellent fit: χ2(53) = 182.76, p < .001; CFI = .980; RMSEA = .038 90% CI [.032, .044], and SRMR = .025. In sum, this work presents an exhaustive psy-chometric analysis of the AAMS in a representative sample of high school Dominican students.