University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI): Transcultural Validity Evidence Across Four Continents

Hugo Assunção; Su-Wei Lin; Pou-Seong Sit; Kwok-Cheung Cheung; Heidi Harju-Luukkainen; Thomas Smith; Benvindo Maloa; Juliana Álvares Duarte Bonini Campos; Ivana Stepanovic Ilic; Giovanna Esposito; Freda Maria Francesca; João Marôco

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02796

University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI): Transcultural Validity Evidence Across Four Continents

Front Psychol. 2020 Jan 9:10:2796. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02796. eCollection 2019.

Affiliations

¹ William James Center for Research, ISPA - University Institute of Psychological, Social and Life Sciences, Lisbon, Portugal.
² Department of Education, National University of Tainan, Tainan, Taiwan.
³ Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau, China.
⁴ Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Bodø, Norway.
⁵ Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, United States.
⁶ Universidade Pedagógica de Maputo, Maputo, Mozambique.
⁷ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁸ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁹ Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.

Abstract

Academic engagement describes students' involvement in academic learning and achievement. This paper reports the psychometric properties of the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI) with a sample of 3992 university students from nine different countries and regions from Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. The USEI operationalizes a trifactorial conceptualization of academic engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive). Construct validity was assessed by means of confirmatory factor analysis and reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients. Weak measurement invariance was observed for country/region, while strong measurement invariance was observed for gender and area of graduation. The USEI scores showed predictive validity for dropout intention, self-rated academic performance, and course approval rate while divergent validity with student burnout scores was also evident. Overall, the results indicate that the USEI can produce reliable and valid data on academic engagement of university students across the world.

Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis; measurment; student engagement; transcultural invariance; university.