Psihološka Obzorja (Nov 2009)
Cross-cultural and sex differences in the Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire scales: Challenges of differential item functioning analyses
Abstract
University students in Croatia, Slovenia, and Sweden (N = 1129) were examined by means of the Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire (Takšić, 1998). Results showed a significant effect for the sex factor only on the total-score scale, women scoring higher than men, but significant effects were obtained for country, as well as for sex, on the Express and Label (EL) and Perceive and Understand (PU) subscales. Sweden showed higher scores than Croatia and Slovenia on the EL scale, and Slovenia showed higher scores than Croatia and Sweden on the PU scale. In subsequent analyses of differential item functioning (DIF), comparisons were carried out for pairs of countries. The analyses revealed that a large proportion of the items in the total-score scale were potentially biased, most so for the Croatian-Swedish comparison, less for the Slovenian-Swedish comparison, and least for the Croatian-Slovenian comparison. These findings give doubts about the validity of mean score differences in comparisons of countries. However, DIF analyses of sex differences within each country show very few DIF items, indicating that the ESCQ instrument works well within each cultural/linguistic setting. Possible explanations of the findings are discussed, and improvements for future studies are suggested.
