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The Iowa Developing Autonomy Inventory
Albert B. Hood and Lorraine M. Jackson
Another vector posited by Chickering is that of developing autonomy. Autonomy begins to develop with disengagement from parents. Reliance is then transferred to peers or to an occupational or institutional reference group. In time there is less need for such support and the individual becomes more emotionally independent and free of continual and pressing needs for reassurance, affection, and approval. In attempting to develop scales to assess the development of autonomy, various aspects of autonomous behavior were identified as they relate to college students. Emotional independence is one aspect and thus two sets of items were developed, one to measure emotional independence from peers and another emotional independence from parents. In the area of instrumental independence, four sets of items were constructed dealing with (l) the management of time, (2) the management of money, (3) the management of school and work experiences, and (4) mobility. For the third area-- interdependence, three sets of item pools were developed covering (l) interdependencies between self and others, (2) interdependencies between self and community, and (3) interdependencies between the self and the large social structure.
A large number of items were then written for each of the nine scales and from among these items 20 were selected to be included in the initial pilot form along with the 20-item social desirability scale of Jackson (l967). Items were responded to on a five-point Likert scale. For example, the item "I would go against my parents' wishes if the issue was very important to me" was responded to on a five-point scale:
l = Never characteristic of me
2 = Seldom characteristic of me
3 = Sometimes characteristic of me
4 = Often characteristic of me
5 = Always characteristic of me.
An equal number of items to be scored positively and negatively were included to control for the acquiescence response set.
The resulting item pool was administered to 99 students at The University of Iowa and l78 at the Pennsylvania State University. The samples represented heterogeneous groups on both campuses containing students from the freshmen year through those in graduate and professional schools. Both samples included a number of students in Education and therefore contained more women than men in the samples.
In the Penn State sample approximately 60% of the students were females and 40% males; in the University of Iowa sample 80% were females and 20% males. Approximately one-half of the students in the Penn State sample were freshmen and the remaining half was fairly evenly divided among the other four classes-- sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students. The Iowa sample also included students from all five classes with somewhat larger numbers coming from the sophomore and the graduate student groups.
Reliability for the total l80 item Pilot Autonomy Scale was .95 and substantial reliabilities for each of the nine subscales were substantial falling in the general range of .7 to .9 (Table C-l). Intercorrelations among the nine pilot subscales are also shown in Table C-l. An examination of these intercorrelations revealed that the subscale management of time and the management of school and work experiences were highly intercorrelated (.7l), and thus these two scales were combined into one dealing with time management. The three sets of items dealing with interdependence--interdependence between self and others, the community, and the larger social structure also showed substantial intercorrelations and these three sets of items were also combined into a single scale dealing with interdependence. The other four sets of items dealing with mobility, the management of money, the emotional independence from peers and the emotional independence from parents were found to be more independent from other scales and were continued as subscales on the final inventory.
Item correlations were computed for each item with (1) its own subscale, (2) the total developing autonomy score, (3) the correlation with the 20 item social desirability scale, (4) the correlation with the student's age, and (5) the correlation with the student's class. The correlation with the social desirability scale was included in the Differential Reliability Index (DRI) (see Chapter 1) and the final items were selected taking into consideration these indices in both the Iowa and Penn State samples. Fifteen items were selected from each of the resulting six item pools to yield a total 90 item inventory.
Final Form
The final 90 item Developing Autonomy Inventory is made up of six l5 item subscales: Mobility, Time Management, Money Management, Interdependence, Emotional Independence Regarding Peers, and Emotional Independence Regarding Parents. For the group tested (n = 84) the mean obtained on the total inventory was 322.4 with a standard deviation of 37.65 (Table C-3). Means on the six subscales ranged from 47.53 to 57.22 with standard deviations ranging between 7.41 and l0.79. The total inventory had an alpha reliability coefficient of .94 (Table C-2) and showed a correlation of .42 with the Social Desirability scale (Table C- 4).
Mobility
The Mobility subscale is composed of l5 items of which two samples are: "I would like living in a variety of places," "I do not adjust to new surroundings quickly so I would not seek a job requiring mobility" (neg). The Mobility subscale has a reliability of .87 and a correlation with the total score of .75 the correlation of .24 with the Social Desirability scale.
Time Management
The Time Management subscale is composed of l5 items of which two typical items are: "I put things off until the last minute and regret it" (neg.), "When academic pressures are great, I'm still able to get my outside work done." The Time Management subscale has a reliability of .85 and a correlation with the total inventory score of .69. It has a correlation with the Social Desirability scale of .54.
Money Management
Two of the l5 items making up the Money Management subscale are: "When I am in debt, I turn to my parents for help" (neg.), "I don't need help to balance my checkbook." The Money Management subscale has a reliability of .8l and a correlation of .70 with the total inventory score. It has a correlation of .29 with Social Desirability.
Interdependence
The Interdependence subscale attempts to measure interdependence with others--neither totally independent nor totally dependent. It is composed of l5 items which related to an interdependence with others and an interdependence with groups and with one's community. Typical items include: "I think the best family relationships are based on a mutual give and take," "Campus groups to which I belong should not expect much help from me" (neg.). The Interdependence subscale has a reliability of .80 and a correlation with the total inventory score of .60. Its correlation with the Social Desirability score is a too high .67.
Emotional Independence--Peers
The Emotional Independence--Peers is made up of l5 items. Two sample items are: "I really feel uncomfortable when I go to a party without my friends" (neg.), "I plan my own social life without getting approval from friends." This subscale has a reliability of .77 and a correlation of .69 with the total inventory score. It has a correlation of .40 with the Social Desirability scale.
Emotional Independence--Parents
The Emotional Independence--Parents subscale is composed of l5 items and two sample items are: "I would go against my parents' wishes if the issue was very important to me," "I look to my parents for solutions to personal problems" (neg.). This subscale has a particularly high reliability for a l5-item scale of .88 and a correlation with the total inventory score of .73. It is unrelated to the Social Desirability scale with a correlation of .03.
Both the total score on the Developing Autonomy Inventory as well as certain of the subscales showed substantial relationships with the age of students indicating clearly that students become more autonomous as they get older and move through the college years. The total score yielded a correlation of .50 with student age and .43 with a student's class in college. A similar relationship was found on the subscale dealing with the management of money. Lower but still significant correlations were found between age and class on a number of the other subscales (Table C-4). Management of time appeared to be related to class but not to student age while the reverse set of relationships appeared for the subscale dealing with emotional independence from peers. Emotional independence from parents showed a very high relationship with age and lower one with class and it also appeared that males tended to feel they were more emotionally independent from their parents than did females. These relationships which were found to exist for these demographic variables yield considerable construct validity for this inventory.
In the final form of the Developing Autonomy Inventory items have been placed in such a way that the first two are scored in a positive direction, the next two in a negative direction, and that pattern continues throughout the entire 90 item inventory. The six subscales also fall in a particular pattern through the first 72 items on the inventory. That subscale order is as follows: Interdependence, Emotional Independence--Parents, Management of Time, Management of Money, Emotional Independence--Peers, and Mobility. This pattern is repeated l2 times for the first 72 items and this pattern then varies for the last l8 items.
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Table C-1
Correlation Matrix and Reliability of Pilot Autonomy Scale Scores
Mob. Mat. Int. Mgt. Int. Emot. Mgt. Int. Emot. Social
Time Oth. Money Comm. Ind. Work Soc. Ind. Des.
Peers Sch. Parent
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
_________________________________________________________________
Total .65 .64 .53 .66 .66 .67 .79 .57 .55 .68
1 .16 .26 .30 .32 .36 .44 .18 .53 .23
2 .35 .35 .44 .36 .71 .25 .07 .54
3 .25 .57 .18 .37 .41 .02 .61
4 .23 .42 .44 .38 .40 .43
5 .32 .51 .52 .06 .63
6 .41 .35 .46 .49
7 .34 .29 .55
8 .09
9 .03
Rel. .87 .88 .72 .85 .81 .84 .77 .88 .79
N = 100
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Table C-2
Correlation Matrix and Reliabilities of
Final Autonomy Inventory Scale Scores
Total Mobility Mgt. Mgt. Interd. Emot. Emot.
Score Time Money Ind. Ind.
Peers Parents
1 2 3 4 5 6
______________________________________________________________________
Total .74 .69 .70 .60 .69 .73
1 .40 .29 .40 .45 .52
2 .48 .50 .46 .26
3 .35 .37 .46
4 .35 .20
5 .53
Rel. .87 .84 .81 .80 .77 .88
(alpha)
N = 92
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Table C-3
Mean and Standard Deviations of Final Autonomy Scale Scores
Mean Standard Range N
Deviation
_______________________________________________________________
Total Score 322.42 37.65 226-414 84
Mobility 52.60 10.15 24-75 96
Mgt. Time 55.20 8.68 23-75 92
Mgt. Money 56.56 9.86 33-73 88
Interdependence 57.22 7.64 33-73 92
Emot. Ind. Peers 51.04 7.41 25.67 95
Emot. Ind. Parents 47.53 10.79 22-74 94
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Table C-4
Correlations of Final Autonomy Inventory
Scale Scores with Demographics
Sex Age Class Social
Desirability
__________________________________________________________
Total Score -.14 .50 .43 .41
Mobility -.14 .27 .28 .24
Mgt. Time -.01 .06 .29 .54
Mgt. Money -.14 .49 .39 .29
Interdependence .21 .15 .23 .67
Emot. Ind. Peers -.14 .39 .19 .40
Emot. Ind. Parents -.32 .61 .35 .03
N = 92
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