Development of Junior High School Students to Secondary Vocational Students Stigma Scale

BACKGROUND AND AIM: It is particularly obvious that vocational and technical education (VTE) has been stigmatized for a long time in the field of secondary vocational education. The severe stigma that secondary vocational students suffer from may negatively affect junior high school students’ choice to attend secondary vocational schools and become such students. This study aims to develop the junior high school students to Secondary Vocational Students Stigma Scale (SVSSS) and to test its reliability and validity. METHODS: The initial questionnaire was formed following an open-ended questionnaire and expert review based on the conceptual model of stigma as a theoretical framework. A total of 316 junior high school students (sample 1) were administered with the resulting data subjected to item analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). And a total of 416 junior high school students (sample 2) were administered with the data applied for validity, reliability, and cross-group invariance test. RESULTS: It was revealed in the EFA that the SVSSS consists of 20 items in total, including three dimensions, namely negative labeling, social isolation, and devaluation and discrimination. Favorable structural validity of the questionnaire was demonstrated in confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (x(2)/df=2.907, RMSEA=0.068, RFI=0.925, CFI=0.956, NFI=0.934, IFI=0.956, PNFI=0.816, PCFI=0.835). The aggregate scores of the SVSSS, exhibiting cross-gender invariance, were significantly negatively associated with willingness to choose secondary vocational education and positively correlated with academic performance. Cronbach’s α coefficient of the SVSSS and each dimension ranged from 0.815 to 0.963, with split-half reliability from 0.777 to 0.969. CONCLUSION: Featuring favorable reliability and validity, the SVSSS was found to be an effective tool for the measurement of the secondary vocational education stigma among junior high school students, with its measurement invariance across genders.