NCJ Number
211078
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 34 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2005 Pages: 389-400
Date Published
August 2005
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study tested the construct validity of the alternative models of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ) in a normal adolescent population and its relationship to self-esteem, depression, and ego development.
Abstract
Our understanding of the adolescent self depends, to a large extent, on availability of adequate assessment methods. One widely used method aimed at a comprehensive assessment of the conscious self-image of the adolescents is the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ). The OSIQ is a self-descriptive personality test of the psychological world of adolescents aged 13 to 19 years, developed in the United States in 1961 through 1962 for the assessment of normal adolescents. This study tested the construct validity of the OSIQ in a sample of 194 normal Finnish adolescents from 14 to 16 years of age. The construct validity of the OSIQ was studied using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). CFA models built on the basis of previous results from the studies of the construct validity of the OSIQ were compared in the above sample of adolescents. Results of the study suggest that the OSIQ measures adolescent’s self-image in five reasonably distinct self-image areas (personally anxious self, social relationships, sexual attitudes, family relationships, and social conscience), which can be grouped under the overall self-image. The hierarchical factor structure of the OSIQ possesses good psychometric properties, which are construct, convergent, and discriminant validity, in a sample of normal adolescents, thereby supporting the structure of the OSIQ. References