Parental Attitudes Towards STEM Scale: Development and Psychometric Properties

This study describes the development of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Scale, intended to assess parental attitudes toward school programs designed to deliver STEM, and evaluates its psychometric properties. The study group included 400 parents of students (138 males and 262 females) enrolled in STEM programs throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a result of the analysis, a 50-item scale comprising four subscales was developed: (a) perceived value, (b) perceived control, (c) affective component, and (d) intention component. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed a four-factor structural model that had a satisfactory fit. Cronbach’s alpha of the overall scale demonstrated good internal consistency. Preliminary results suggest that parental attitudes toward the STEM scale have adequate convergent and divergent validity.