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Aim: This study assesses the impact of political social motivation, trust in government, political efficacy, and personal motivation on political engagement behavior among young adult college students. Study design: Quasi-experimental One-shot Case Study Design. Methodology: Survey data of indicators of the five latent constructs was collected from college students. Exploratory principal component factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha test were performed to identify the factorial structure of the each of the political engagement scales. Structural equation modeling analysis was performed to estimate the overall model fit indices and the magnitude of effects of political social motivation, trust in government, political efficacy, and personal motivation on political engagement behavior among the young adult college students. Results: The analysis found that internal political efficacy had a large significant negative impact on political engagement behavior. External political efficacy had a large significant positive influence on political engagement behavior. Trust in government had a small positive insignificant effect on political engagement behavior. Political social motivation and personal motivation had no meaningful impact on political engagement behavior of the young adult college students. Conclusion: Collectively, these findings suggest that to sustain American democracy, proponents should focus on promoting internal and external political efficacy, and to a less extent trust in government, not on political motivation of young adult college students.

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Article HistoryObjective: This study was aimed at determining the external validity of the psychometric properties of a two-factor Collegiate Learning Assessment Performance Task Diagnostic Instrument (CLAPTDI) for use in assessing learning skills among predominantly black college students. The construct validity of the two factors CLAPTDI had been established in a previous study exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Establishing the external validity involved conducting a multi-group test of the measurement instrument's factorial scores equivalence across panels of lower class and upper class students from a predominantly black college. Method: The study relied on a strict test of equivalence categorization by focusing on tests for invariance across the two groups with respect to factor loadings, intercepts, and error factor loadings by estimating the difference in chi-square goodness-of-fit statistic and comparative fit index (CFI). Sets of measurement and structural parameters were put to the test in a logically ordered and increasingly restrictive manner. Results: The analyses found that the CLAPTDI scale's factorial measurement structure was invariant across lower class and upper class PBC students. Conclusion: The collegiate learning assessment performance task diagnostic instrument with two latent factors and five observed variables is a valid measurement scale for assessing the level of analytic reasoning and problem solving learning among predominantly black college students. Contribution/ Originality:The study is one of very few studies which have investigated the external validity of the psychometric properties of a two-factor Collegiate Learning Assessment Performance Task Diagnostic Instrument (CLAPTDI) for use in assessing learning skills among predominantly black college students.

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