Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (PSSM)

The Psychological Sense of School Membership includes 18-items that measure adolescent students' perceived belonging or psychological membership in the school environment.

Content

Sub-Category
Grades
5th Grade,
6th Grade,
7th Grade,
8th Grade,
9th Grade,
10th Grade,
11th Grade,
12th Grade
Languages
English,
Spanish

Administration Information

Length
18 items
Administration
Paper

Access and Use

Price

Free

Contact

Aquire permission from the developer, Carol Goodenow, before use.

Use in Research

Anderman, E. M. (2002). School effects on psychological outcomes during adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(4), 795–809. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.4.795

Shochet, I. M., Smith, C. L., Furlong, M. J., & Homel, R. (2011). A prospective study investigating the impact of school belonging factors on negative affect in adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 40(4), 586–595. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2011.581616

Booker, K. C. (2007). Likeness, comfort, and tolerance: Examining African American adolescents’ sense of school belonging. The Urban Review, 39, 301-317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-007-0053-y

Hughes, J., Hee im, M., & Allee, P. (2015). Effect of school belonging trajectories in grades 6-8 on achievement: Gender and ethnic differences. Journal of School Psychology, 53, 493-507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2015.08.001

Psychometrics

Psychometric References

Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30(1), 79-90. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6807(199301)30:1<79::AID-PITS2310300113>3.0.CO;2-X

Whiting, E. F., Everson, K. C., & Feinauer, E. (2018). The simple school belonging scale: Working toward a unidimensional measure of student belonging. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 51(3), 163-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481756.2017.1358057

Psychometric Considerations

Psychometrics is the science of psychological assessment. A primary goal of EdInstruments is to provide information on crucial psychometric topics including Validity and Reliability – essential concepts of evaluation, which indicate how well an instrument measures a construct - as well as additional properties that are worthy of consideration when selecting an instrument of measurement.

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