Development and Standardization of Indigenous Student Problem Identification Scale

An individual's development ensures continuous changes that introduce challenges and conflicts that may hassle him. Transition to the university may expose them to a wide array of threats that they may not be able to cope with successfully. These may thus influence individuals' psychological and behavioral functioning and physical wellbeing. It may be the institution's responsibility to provide help to these individuals; however, for this purpose, these problems need to be identified and evaluated foremost. Henceforth, this research is concerned with the development and standardization of the Student Problem Identification Scale (SPIS) on a sample of 415 undergraduates. Through a semi-structured interview, a list of problems was generated. Those that were recurring were subsequently removed. The obtained list was reviewed by four experts who provided feedback on the relevance of each item. The list was then put through statistical analysis, and its psychometric properties were evaluated. Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation and Kaisar normalization generated four factors that were labeled as Personal Pressures, Poor Adjustment, Low Academic Achievement, and Unhealthiness. Convergent validity was determined with the help of the Student Problem Checklist (Mahmood & Saleem, 2011). Cronbach Alpha revealed excellent internal consistency of the scale. Implications for further research are also discussed.