The aim of this study is to assess the cross-cultural applicability of the Chinese version of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM; McInerney & Sinclair) in the Hong Kong context using both within-network and between-network approaches to construct validation. The ISM measures four types of achievement goals: mastery, performance, social, and extrinsic goals. A total of 697 high school students participated in the study. Results of the within-network test showed that the ISM had good internal consistency reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesised four-factor structure. In addition, multigroup confirmatory factor analyses showed factorial invariance across students of different genders, year levels, and school types. The between-network test indicated that the achievement goals assessed by the ISM correlated systematically with different aspects of students' self-concepts. These findings provide evidence of the applicability of the ISM among Hong Kong Chinese students. Implications for cross-cultural research are discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15305058.2012.656162]

This article reports the adaptation and analysis of Pintrich's Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) in Hong Kong. First, this study examined the psychometric qualities of the existing Chinese version of MSLQ (MSLQ-CV). Based on this examination, this study developed a revised Chinese version of MSLQ (MSLQ-RCV) for junior secondary students in Hong Kong. Confirmatory factor analysis and Graded Response Model (GRM) were used to examine the internal consistency, construct validity, differential item functioning (DIF), and differential test functioning (DTF) of the revised instrument, which contains six factors and 50 items. Compared with the existing MSLQ-CV, the factor structure of MSLQ-RCV was expanded to incorporate two new factors: extrinsic value and peer learning. The reasons for these amendments and implications of the findings are discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15305050903534670]

The present study explored motivation and engagement among Chinese and Australian school students. Based on a sample of 528 Hong Kong Chinese 12-13 year olds and an archive sample of 6,366 Australian 12-13 year olds, achievement motivation was assessed using the Motivation and Engagement Scale-High School (MES-HS). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling using LISREL found that, across Chinese and Australian students, there was similar factor structure, reliability, correlations with educational outcomes, and gender and age effects—suggesting there are no fundamental differences of kind between the two cultures. There were, however, differences of degree in that Australian students reported significantly higher levels of adaptive achievement motivation and significantly lower levels of maladaptive achievement motivation. It is concluded that although Australian students have higher levels of reported achievement motivation than Chinese students on a number of dimensions, the two groups' fundamental orientation does not appear to be markedly different in terms of motivation structure, profile, and relationships. This holds implications for cross-cultural motivation assessment, data analysis, and programmatic intervention aimed at enhancing (and sustaining) students' achievement motivation in different cultural and national contexts.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15305058.2010.482220]

Learning strategies and affective factors could have a profound impact on student standardized mathematics performance. This study investigated gender differences in affective factors, learning strategies, and preferred learning situations, and how these variables affect math achievement of 15 year olds in the United States and Hong Kong on the PISA 2003 assessment. Math self-efficacy was found to be the best predictor of math performance in both countries. A striking mismatch was identified between Hong Kong students' superior math performance and extremely low math self-concept and between U.S. students' high confidence and weak performance. In addition, U.S. students' interest in math was significantly negatively related to their math performance. Contrary to a widely reported finding that East Asian students emphasize memorization, U.S. students were found to heavily rely on memorization strategies, which was also a negative predictor of math achievement.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15305050903106875]

Working within the framework of a confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) model, this study adds another dimension to construct validation of both the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) and a Chinese version of the BDI-II (C-BDI-II; Chinese Behavioral Sciences Society, 2000). Specifically, we tested for measurement equivalence of the C-BDI-II with the original BDI-II across Hong Kong (N = 1771) and American (N = 501) adolescents, respectively. Provided with evidence of measurement equivalence, we then tested for differences in the latent factor means (i.e., subscale levels) of three first-order factors of negative attitude, performance difficulty, and somatic elements and one second-order factor of general depression. All procedures were based on analyses of mean and covariance structures (MACS) that took into account both the incompleteness and non-normality of the data. Findings revealed sound evidence of measurement equivalence of the C-BDI-II and BDI-II factorial structures, and latent factor means that pointed to higher levels of depressive symptoms for Hong Kong adolescents than for their American counterparts.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15305050701438058 ]

Differential gender performance in standardized mathematics assessment has long been a heated topic. Gender gaps of varied magnitude have been identified on large-scale assessments in the United States. To continue the investigation, this study examined male and female performance on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 mathematics along four in-depth dimensions (strand, content topics, competency cluster, and item format). Furthermore, to identify the shared and unique patterns of gender differences, students from Hong Kong were brought into the comparison. Males in both counties demonstrated superior performance, particularly on complex multiple choice items. Females scored higher on probability, algebra, and reproduction items. Hong Kong students showed a larger gender gap than U.S. students. However, the within-country gender differences were considered small compared with the significant between-country performance differences. (Some PISA participants are not countries, but education systems representative of countries (e.g., Hong Kong). However, for purpose of simplicity, instead of using "countries/systems" every time, the generic term "countries" was used to refer to countries or systems.) Hong Kong students predominantly outperformed U.S. students, including items that measure complex mathematical reasoning, an area well documented to favor U.S. students.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15305050902733547]

The primary purpose of this study was to test for the validity of a Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (C-BDI-II) for use with Hong Kong community (i.e., nonclinical) adolescents. Based on a randomized triadic split of the data (N = 1460), we conducted exploratory factor analysis on Group1 (n = 486) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) within the framework of structural equation modeling on Groups 2 (n = 487) and 3 (n = 487); the second CFA served as a cross-validation of the determined factor structure. Factor analytic results, based on a 4-factor structure that comprised 1 2nd-order general factor of Depression and 3 1st-order factors representing Negative Attitude, Performance Difficulty, and Somatic Elements, replicated those reported previously for Canadian (Byrne&Baron, 1993), Swedish (Byrne, Baron, Larsson,&Melin, 1995), and Bulgarian (Byrne, Baron,&Balev, 1998) nonclinical adolescents. Based on this cross-validated factor structure, findings related to internal consistency reliability, stability over a 6-month time lag, and relations with relevant external criteria provided strong support for the valid use of the C-BDI-II in measuring depressive symptoms for Hong Kong community adolescents.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327574ijt0403_1]