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Adaptation and validation to Spanish of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire–12 (PCQ–12) in academic contexts

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Abstract

Psychological Capital is a construct that is experiencing strong growth within the framework of Positive Psychology. In work contexts, it has been related to employee performance, wellbeing, attitudes, and behaviors. In educational contexts, particularly non–English–speaking contexts, there is hardly any research on this topic, mostly due to the lack of assessment and measurement instruments. In general, most studies use the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) by Luthans et al. (Personnel Psychology, 60(3), 541–572, 2007) as a measure. The purpose of the present study is the validation of a 12–item PCQ that is adapted to the academic context and translated to Spanish. A sample of 1126 undergraduate students from two different universities located in Spain (n = 596) and Chile (n = 530) participated in the study. The current study demonstrates –through reliability (alpha and omega indexes), single group and multiple group confirmatory factor analysis, and criterion validity (Pearson’s correlations)– that the Spanish academic PCQ–12 is a reliable and valid indicator of academic psychological capital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Psychology. Universitat Jaume I, Avenida Sos Baynat, s/n. 12071, Castellón de la Plana, Spain

    Isabel M. Martínez & Isabella Meneghel

  2. Escuela de Psicología y Filosofía, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avenida 18 de Septiembre # 2222, Arica, Chile

    Marcos Carmona-Halty

  3. College of Business, Bellevue University, 1000 Galvin Road South, Bellevue, NE, USA

    Carolyn M. Youssef-Morgan

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  1. Isabel M. Martínez
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Correspondence to Isabel M. Martínez.

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Author Isabel M. Martínez declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Isabella Meneghel declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Marcos Carmona–Halty declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Carolyn Youssef–Morgan declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universitat Jaume I (N° 4/2016).

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This research was supported by Consellería de Educación, Generalitat Valenciana–Programa Prometeo (PROMETEO/2013/025); and Universidad de Tarapacá (UTAMayor 3747/18).

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Martínez, I.M., Meneghel, I., Carmona-Halty, M. et al. Adaptation and validation to Spanish of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire–12 (PCQ–12) in academic contexts. Curr Psychol 40, 3409–3416 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00276-z

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