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Validation of a Portuguese Version of the Aspiration Index for Adolescents (AI)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2020

Mónica Costa Open the ORCID record for Mónica Costa [Opens in a new window] ,
Paula Mena Matos Open the ORCID record for Paula Mena Matos [Opens in a new window]  and
Catarina Pinheiro Mota Open the ORCID record for Catarina Pinheiro Mota [Opens in a new window]
Mónica Costa
Affiliation:
Universidade do Porto (Portugal)
Paula Mena Matos
Affiliation:
Universidade do Porto (Portugal)
Catarina Pinheiro Mota*
Affiliation:
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Catarina Pinheiro Mota. Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. Departamento de Educação e Psicologia. Vila Real (Portugal). E-mail: catppmota@utad.pt
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Abstract

Intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation have been widely studied, and their importance on both developmental and educational practices has led to the development of assessment tools. The Aspiration Index scale (AI; Grouzet et al., 2005), which was developed to measure people`s life aspirations, was translated and validated into Portuguese. A sample of 1,359 adolescents, age ranged from 12 to 18 years-old, participated in the present study. Results showed that a factor structure with the eleven subscales of the AI does not fit the data. However we gathered support for a three-factor structure that organized the items in terms of whether aspirations are intrinsically, extrinsically or self-transcendent oriented. Internal consistency and temporal stability yielded good results. The predictive and criterion validities were demonstrated by significant associations with theoretically supported measures of satisfaction with life and father and mother attachment. The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that this structure was invariant across gender. These results suggest that the AI is a reliable measure to assess different types of life aspirations and can be used in future research with adolescents in Portugal.

Keywords

aspirationsextrinsicintrinsicpsychometric analysisself-determination
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 23 , 2020 , e32
Copyright
© Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2020

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