PSYCHOMETRIC STUDY OF THE INVENTORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH SPANISH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The study and characterization of university outstanding students is an emerging topic and some researchers are working on it. The objective of this work is to study the psychometric properties of the Inventory of Psychological Characteristics Associated with Academic Performance (ICPADA) (Antunes et al., 2017; Scaeger et al., 2012) in the Spanish university population. In the IPCADA exploratory study participated 299 undergraduate students [202 (67.6%) women, 88 (29.%) men and 9 (3%) preferred not to answer this question] from various universities in Spain (mainland and islands). This group of students had an average age of 21.47 years (SD=5.154). Data collection was carried out online through informed consent and voluntary participation of the students. The ICPADA was applied, and the data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis. The psychometric results of the IPCADA are satisfactory. Four factors emerged from the exploratory factor analysis: Cognition-creativity, Motivation and Learning Strategies, Persistence, and Social Interaction. The reliability indices (Cronbach's alpha) were higher than 0.75 for all factors. Despite the small group of participants, these exploratory results are promising and allow us to perceive the IPCADA as an adequate measurement instrument.