Skip Navigation



Health Education Research Advance Access published online on July 14, 2004
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyg103
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
20/1/61    most recent
cyg103v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Paschall, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Eldreth, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Paschall, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Eldreth, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Received October 29, 2003
Accepted April 27, 2004

Original article

Psychometric properties of virtual reality vignette performance measures: a novel approach for assessing adolescents' social competency skills

Mallie J. Paschall 1*, Diana H. Fishbein 2, Robert C. Hubal 3, Diana Eldreth 2

1 Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
2 Transdisciplinary Behavioral Science Program, RTI International, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
3 Technology Assisted Learning Division, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: paschall{at}pire.org.


  Abstract

This study examined the psychometric properties of performance measures for three novel, interactive virtual reality vignette exercises developed to assess social competency skills of at-risk adolescents. Performance data were collected from 117 African-American male 15-17 year olds. Data for 18 performance measures were obtained, based on adolescents' interaction with a provocative virtual teenage character. Twelve of the 18 performance measures loaded on two factors corresponding to emotional control and interpersonal communication skills, providing support for their factorial validity. The internal reliability coefficients for the two multi-item measures were 0.88 and 0.91, respectively. Additional analyses with established measures of three psychosocial factors (beliefs supporting aggression, aggressive conflict-resolution style and hostility) and behavioral criteria (e.g., self-reported behavioral misconduct and drug use) provided limited support for the construct and criterion-related validity of the performance measures. Study findings suggest that the virtual reality vignette exercises may represent a promising approach for assessing adolescents' social competency skills.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Criminal Justice and BehaviorHome page
R. K. Ax, T. J. Fagan, P. R. Magaletta, R. D. Morgan, D. Nussbaum, and T. W. White
Innovations in Correctional Assessment and Treatment
Criminal Justice and Behavior, July 1, 2007; 34(7): 893 - 905.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.