Open Access

ARTICLE

Chinese Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Belief in a Just World Scale for College Students

by Zhe Yu^1,2, Shuping Yang^1,*

1 School of Education, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China
2 Youth League Committee, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan, 114051, China

* Corresponding Author: Shuping Yang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Addressing Social Issues through Mental Health Promotion in Vulnerable Populations: Challenges, Strategies, and Interventions)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2024, 26(4), 271-278. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2024.048342

Received 05 December 2023; Accepted 22 February 2024; Issue published 04 May 2024

Abstract

This study aims to revise the Belief in a Just World Scale (BJWS) for Chinese college students and test its reliability and validity (construct validity, convergent and divergent validity). Two samples of 546 and 595 college students were selected, respectively, using stratified cluster random sampling. Item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis and convergent and divergent validity tests were carried out. The results showed that the 13 items of the BJWS have good item discrimination. The corrected item–total correlation in the general belief in a just world subscale was found to range from 0.464 to 0.655, and that in the personal belief in a just world subscale was 0.553 to 0.715. The internal consistency coefficients of the revised version of the BJWS and its subscales are good. The EFA and CFA results show that the structure and items of the revised scale are the same as those of the original scale. Belief in a just world was found to have significant positive correlations with gratitude and empathy, and has a significant negative correlation with anxiety, thereby exhibiting good convergent and divergent validity. Therefore, the Chinese revised version of the BJWS has good reliability and validity.

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Keywords

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