Measuring School Engagement: Validation and Measurement Equivalence of the Student Engagement Scale on Angolan Male and Female Adolescents

Abstract

School engagement is defined primarily in relation to the participation of the student in academic achievement, and it is viewed as a multidimensional and integrative construct, or macroconstruct made up of several dimensions. The most repeated typology recognizes three specific dimensions: Cognitive, behavioral, and emotional (affective). Recently, a fourth new dimension, personal agency, has been proposed, which reflects students’ constructive engagement with the academic instructions. F. Veiga has been the first to present a self-report instrument, in Portuguese, to measure these four components, the Student Engagement Scale-4 dimensions (SES-4DS). This research has studied the validity and reliability of this scale and its gender invariance in a sample of 2034 Angolan students. Results have shown a clear scalar invariant factor structure, some reliability problems, and adequate convergent and nomological validity. Latent differences were found between males and females for cognitive and affective engagement. Results are discussed in light of the existing literature.