The Construct Validity of Measures of the Tripartite Conceptualization of Punishment Attitudes

This study examined whether retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation are three distinct components of global punishment attitudes. Three verbal measures of each component were independently constructed using the Likert method of eliminated ratings, Thurstonc's method of equal appearing intervals, and Guilford's self-rating procedure. Administration of these nine scales on 188 respondents yielded a 9 × 9 multitrait-multimethod matrix. The traditional Campbell and Fiske (1959) procedure as well as new structural equation models (e.g., Bagozzi, 1993) were applied to the matrix. Results indicated that convergent and discriminant validity was achieved for the measures of the three components of punishment attitudes when each was treated as a latent variable in a confirmatory factor analysis and correlated uniquenesses were permitted within each method.