Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of the Implicit Theory of Intelligence Scale for Middle School Students

Abstract

This study aimed to adapt and validate the Implicit Theory of Intelligence Scale, originally developed for children and early adolescents, for use with Turkish middle school students in response to the limited availability of validated measurement tools for this population. The sample consisted of 622 students enrolled in grades 5 to 8 (aged 10–15), representing late childhood and early adolescence. The adaptation process followed a back-translation procedure, and content validity and cultural relevance were examined through expert review conducted by specialists in educational psychology, language education, and measurement and evaluation. Psychometric analyses indicated that the scale demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity. Internal consistency was acceptable, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .795, and corrected item–total correlations ranged from .505 to .632 across the subscales. Factor structure analyses supported the original two-factor model and yielded acceptable model fit indices (χ²/df = 1.599; RMSEA = .031). Overall, the findings indicated that the Turkish version of the Implicit Theory of Intelligence Scale was a valid and reliable instrument for assessing middle school students’ implicit beliefs about intelligence within the Turkish educational context.