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Assessing the Measurement Invariance of the Gratitude Questionnaire–5 in Chinese and American Adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2021

Yu Ling ,
Qin Yang ,
Yifang Zeng  and
E. Scott Huebner
Yu Ling*
Affiliation:
Hunan Normal University (China)
Qin Yang
Affiliation:
No.3 Middle School of Yongzhou (China)
Yifang Zeng
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University (US)
E. Scott Huebner
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina (US)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Yu Ling. Hunan Normal University. 410081Changsha (China). E-mail: ponylingyu17@aliyun.com
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Abstract

Given the possibility of cultural differences in the meaning and levels of gratitude among children, we evaluated the measurement invariance of the Gratitude Questionnaire–5 (GQ–5) and differences in latent means across adolescents from two distinct cultures, China and America. Data were obtained from 1,991 Chinese and 1,685 American adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis were performed to examine the factor structure and the measurement equivalence across Chinese and American adolescents. The Cronbach’s alpha and Item-total Correlations of the GQ–5 were also evaluated. Results of confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the expected one-factor structure. Also, a series of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses supported full configural invariance, full metric invariance, and partial scalar invariance between the two groups. Furthermore, the findings suggested that the GQ–5 is suitable for conducting mean level comparisons. The subsequent comparison of latent means revealed that the Chinese adolescents reported significantly lower gratitude than American adolescents.

Keywords

adolescentcultural differencegratitudeGratitude Questionnaire–5measurement invariance
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 24 , 2021 , e17
Copyright
© Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2021

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Footnotes

Funding Statement: This research was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of Hunan Provincial Education Department (Grant No. 19A315) awarded to Dr. Yu Ling.

Conflict of Interest: None.

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