Validation of the Smoking Self‐efficacy Survey for Taiwanese Children

PURPOSE: To determine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the smoking self-efficacy (SSE) survey. DESIGN AND METHODS: The SSE survey was translated into Chinese then was back-translated into English, reviewed for content validity, pilot tested, and administered to 401 children between December 1998 and August 1999. A random cluster sampling method was used in this study. FINDINGS: Reliability was indicated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, .98. The validity of the SSE scale was determined by face validity, item-total correlation coefficient, content validity index, and concurrent validity. Principal component analysis was done to determine the construct validity of the SSE scale. The revised SSE scale had three components accounting for 74.3% of the total variance with alpha of .96. The correlation coefficient between the SSE and revised SSE scale was .99. CONCLUSIONS: Findings show that the revised SSE scale is not only parsimonious but also it is as reliable and valid as is the original SSE scale. This translated instrument is appropriate for use in studies of smoking behavior in Taiwanese children aged 11 to 14 years. Further research will be needed to validate the SSE scale with different populations and settings in Taiwan.