Abstract

BRENLLA, María Elena; MESSINA, Verónica María  and  ARANGUREN, María. Buenos Aires's Adaptation of General Causality Orientations Scale (GCOS). Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2013, vol.30, n.1, pp.65-84. ISSN 1668-7027.

The main objective of this work was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the GCOS in Argentinean adult population. The GCOS was originally designed in order to obtain an appropriate instrument for measuring causality orientations, that is, several aspects of people which take part in the initiation and regulation of the behavior (Deci & Ryan, 1985). It is composed by 17 vignettes which describe a situation and are followed by three responses, each one characterizes the three orientations: Autonomy, Control and Impersonal. Every item is answered on a 7-point Likert Scale, ranging from very unlikely to very likely. The GCOS was translated by three independent translators who had knowledge on Psychology to ensure the scale content validity. The content validity was assessed through the use of four independent judges who have wide knowledge on the human motivation field. Two of them suggested that the GCOS evaluated human motivation and the others recognized aspects related to power, achievement and relatedness, decision making, attribution theory. The preliminary version was tested in a small group. Some minor revisions were made on the participants' and judges' recommendations. The sample included 184 participants (106 females; 78 males). Reliability analysis showed a good internal consistency for each subscale: .76 for Autonomy, .74 for Control, and .81 for Impersonal. The item-total correlations ranged between .15 and .61 for Autonomy, .20 and .47 for Control, .15 and .54 for Impersonal. Moreover, five interviews were conducted for analyzing content validity. Five participants who obtained higher scores indifferent subscales were selected. The results showed a good consistency between the scale scores and the interview responses. Following the original study done by Deci and Ryan (1985) different scales were selected to evaluate the GCOS construct validity in our environment. The measures selected were: Autonomy - Connectedness Scale (ACS-30 - Bekker & van Assen, 1986) (Argentinean version, Brenlla & Traviganti, 2009), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II - Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996) (Argentinean version by Brenlla & Rodríguez, 2006) and, Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R - Derogatis, 1994 - Argentinean version, Casullo, 2004). Significant correlations were found between the Autonomy Subscale and the SCL-90R. Particularly, it was found significant negative correlations with Depression (r = -.172; p < .05) and Psychoticism (r =- .241; p < .01). In the Control Subscale, the results showed significant correlation with BDI-II (r = .250; p < .01) and with the following factors of the SCL-R-90: Somatization (r = .249; p < .01), Obsessive-compulsive (r = .223; p < .01), Interpersonal sensitivity (r = .218; p < .05), Anxiety (r = .239; p < .01), Hostility (r = .222; p < .01), and Paranoid ideation (r = .312; p < .01). Also, negative correlations between this subscale and Factor I of the ACS-30-sensitivity to others- (r = -.207; p < .05). As regards the correlations of the Impersonal Subscale with other measures, were the clearest ones. This subscale showed significant correlations with all dimensions of SCL-R-90 (total score SCL-R-90: r = .472; p < .01) and with BDI-II (r = .389; p < .01). As well, negative correlations were found with Factor II of the ACS-30 - Capacity for managing new situations - of the ACS-30 (r = -.276; p < .01) and positive correlations with Factor III -Self-awareness (r = .238; p < .01). The sample's status characteristics influences were analyzed. No difference in scores by age and gender were found. Lastly educational biases were assessed. No influence of educational level was found in the Autonomy Subscale [F(2, 181) = .802; p = .450]. Nevertheless, as educational level decreases an increase in control and impersonal scores was found [Control: F(2, 181) = 13.748; p = .000; Impersonal: F(2, 181) = 19.767; p = .000].

Keywords : Motivation; Causality orientations; Autonomy; Psychometric Argentinean adaptation; Symptoms.

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