SHAALA-22: Construction, psychometric characteristics and validation of questionnaire for academic self-handicapping

Abstract

Academic self-handicaping (ASH) referes to usage of self-handicapping strategies in order to preserve self-esteem by externalizing the causes that could lead to potential failure in academic context. The aim of this study was to validate the SHAALA-22 which intends to measure ASH. The items were generated to reflect the most frequently disscussed ASH strategies found in the literature. Convergent validity was tested with instruments HEXACO-60 (specifically, with Conscientiousness), Self-Liking and Self-Competence Scale (SLCS, 16 items) and Self-Handicap Assessment Questionnare (SH, 34 items) which assesses four types of self-handicapping (External handicaps in interpersonal relationships (EIR), Internal handicaps in interpersonal relationships (IIR), Internal handicaps in achievement situations (IAS), External handicaps in achievement situations (EAS)). Divergent validity was tested by correlation analysis with the traits of Honesty, Emotionality, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness. Regarding diagnostic validity, we expected no differences between males and females, but expected that pupils would have higher scores than students on SHAALA-22. Subjects were recruited using the snowball method. Total of 249 participants (69.9 % female), aged 15-51 years (M = 19.35, SD = 3.31), completed the questionnaires. The method conducted for exploratory factor analysis was Principal components analysis by the means of which we identified one component that accounts for 27.85 % of total variance. Factor analysis indicated that it’s justified to use the total score on the instrument (α = .871, KMO = .933, H2 = .626). The following significant correlations were obtained between the summary score of SHAALA-22 and the subscales of the used instruments: with Conscientiousness (r = -.532, p < .01), with Honesty (r = -.234, p < .01), with Extraversion (r = -.241, p < .01), with Agreeableness (r = -.141, p < .05), with Self-Liking (r = -.342, p < .01), with Self-Competence (r = -.432, p < .01), with EIR (r = .267, p < .01), with IIR (r = .273, p < .01), with IAS (r = .64, p < .01), with EAS (r = .409, p < .01). No significant differences in ASH were observed between males and females, nor between students and pupils. The obtained results indicate good psychometric characteristics of the test and confirm its convergent and discriminant validity, opening new theoretical and practical questions related to this construct