Internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the Astley–Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith among religiously unaffiliated, Christian, and Muslim youth in the UK

Abstract

This study examines the psychometric properties of the Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith among a sample of 10,678 13-to 15-year-old students from across the United Kingdom, exploring the performance of the scale independently among three groups: religiously unaffiliated students (N = 3,711), Christian students (N = 6,649), and Muslim students (N = 318). The data support the internal consistency reliability and the construct validity of this instrument among all three groups and commend it for application in further studies.

Internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith Revised among Muslim, Christian, and religiously unaffiliated secondary school students in England

“…While Francis, Brockett, and Village (2013) reported a lower level of internal consistency reliability for the Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith among Muslim students (α = .77), Francis and Lewis (2016) reported a high level of internal consistency reliability consistent with Christian students (α = .91). This discrepancy deserves further investigation.…”

“…Francis, Brockett, and Village (2013) targeted schools in which there were relatively high concentration of Muslim students, a context in which it may be easier for Muslim students to maintain a high level of religiosity and sensitivity to religious issues. The data used by Francis and Lewis (2016) was derived from schools in which Muslim students were a small minority, a context in which it may be less easy for Muslim students to maintain a high level of religiosity and sensitivity to religious issues. The discrepancy between the two alpha coefficients could be accounted for by the poorer performance of the two negatively voiced items within the instrument and the reluctance of devout Muslim students to agree with statements that may seem disrespectful of religion.…”

The psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith: a study across the age range 13- to 80-years

“…In a third study Francis and Lewis (2016) Against this background, the aim of the present study was to extend the reach of the Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith by developing and testing an Italian translation of the instrument, following the procedure that had been previously employed to develop and test the Italian translation of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Crea, Biacocco, Ioverno, Buzzi, & Francis, 2014).…”

Assessing attitude toward Sikhism: the psychometric properties of the Athwal-Francis Scale among Sikh adolescents

“…The psychometric properties of the new instruments were assessed on a sample of 284 16-to 18-year-old students in England. Subsequently this instrument was tested among a sample of 4,353 students between the ages of 11 and 16 years in Northern England (Francis, Brockett, & Village, 2013), and among 10,678 students between the ages of 13 and 15 years drawn from across the four nations of the UK (Francis & Lewis, 2016).…”