Development of a multi-dimensional educational commitment scale

Scope and method of study. The primary purpose of this study is to develop a theoretically derived instrument that measures the educational commitment among college students. Furthermore, differences on the multidimensional constructs of educational commitment were compared between first- and second-generation students. Participants in the study were 292 students enrolled in a required college orientation class of a regional university in Oklahoma. Each participant completed the 21-item measure of educational commitment developed for this study. Participants were also asked to provide demographic information (e.g., parent education level). Pearson's r, Item Analysis and Principal Components Analyses were used to investigate the structure of the three hypothesized constructs of educational commitment. MANOVA was used to test the three hypothesis regarding differences between first- and second-generation students.; Findings and conclusions. Educational commitment was found to be comprised of three distinct constructs reflecting affective, normative and continuance commitment. Further, these three constructs were found to have sufficient reliability as tested by Chronbach's Alpha (.89, .78 and .81 respectively). Correlations between the constructs were small to moderate. Affective and normative commitment were positively related (.33). Affective commitment and Continuance were negatively related (-.43). Normative commitment and continuance commitment was not related (.01). It was hypothesized that no differences would exist between first- and second-generation students on affective commitment. However, it was hypothesized that first-generation students would score lower on normative commitment and higher on continuance commitment. The results of the MANOVA and subsequent Discriminant Analysis confirmed hypothesis one and two. However, hypothesis three was not supported.