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published online 13 June 2011Journal of Career AssessmentYu-Ping Huang and Lisa Y. Flores
High-School StudentsExploring the Validity of the Problem-Solving Inventory With Mexican American
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Exploring the Validity of theProblem-Solving InventoryWith Mexican AmericanHigh School Students
Yu-Ping Huang1 and Lisa Y. Flores2
AbstractThe Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI; Heppner & Petersen, 1982) was developed to assess perceivedproblem-solving abilities. Using confirmatory factor analysis, results supported a bilevel model of PSIscores with a sample of 164 Mexican American students. Findings support the cultural validity of PSIscores with Mexican Americans and enhance the generalizability with culturally diverse samples.
Keywordsproblem solving, problem solving inventory, Mexican Americans, reliability, validity
Problem-solving appraisal is relevant for career counselors and other helping professionals who
work with people from a broad range of backgrounds (Heppner & Baker, 1997), including youth.
Youth experience a number of stressful events and are at a life stage when they are developing skills
to deal with peer pressure and making decisions that could impact the next phase of their life. In
particular, Mexican American high school students struggle with issues such as substance abuse
(Morgan-Lopez, Castro, & Chassin, 2003), adolescent pregnancy (Mendez-Negrete, Saldana, &
Vega, 2006; Trejos-Castillo & Vazonsyi, 2009), and discrimination and prejudice (Edwards &
Romero, 2008; Fischer, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000; Romero, Carvajal, Volle, & Orduna, 2007). If not
effectively handled, these issues can have negative consequences on these students’ academic per-
sistence and career planning (e.g., Alfaro, Umana-Taylor, Gonzales-Backen, Bamaca, & Zeiders,
2009). Therefore, assessing the problem-solving skills of Mexican American high school students
can be beneficial for career counselors in deciding how to effectively assist these students with their
career planning and decision making. This information can be used to develop or enhance specific
problem-solving skills for preventive purposes, or it can be used for diagnostic purposes to
understand how to intervene when helping a student to effectively cope with life challenges that may
influence their career planning and decision making. Thus, the availability of a problem-solving
1Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA2Department of Educational, School, & Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
Corresponding Author:
Lisa Y. Flores, Department of Educational, School, & Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri, 16 Hill Hall, Columbia,
MO 65211, USA
Email: [email protected]
Journal of Career Assessment000(00) 1-11ª The Author(s) 2011Reprints and permission:sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navDOI: 10.1177/1069072711409720http://jca.sagepub.com
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measure that produces reliable and valid scores with Mexican American high school students can be
valuable in career counseling and can help to further career research and practice with this group.
One such instrument is the Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI; Heppner, 1988; Heppner &
Petersen, 1982). The PSI scores have been linked to career processes across a number of studies
(Heppner, Witty, & Dixon, 2004), suggesting that problem-solving appraisal is an important aspect
in making career decisions. Specifically, prior research found that problem-solving appraisal is
related to career decidedness (Heppner, Lee, et al., 2004; Larson, Heppner, Ham, & Dugan,
1988; Nota, Heppner, Soresi, & Heppner, 2009), career decision-making self-efficacy (Flores,
Ojeda, Huang, Gee, & Lee, 2006), career planning and decision making (e.g., Heppner, Cook,
Strozier, & Heppner, 1991; Larson & Heppner, 1985; McCracken & Weizman, 1997), seeking
career services (Heppner & Krieshok, 1983), vocational identity (Heppner & Krieshok, 1983), and
study habits and academic performance (Elliott, Godshall, Shrout, & Witty, 1990). In addition to its
relations to career outcome variables, Heppner, Lee, et al. (2004) found that across the course of
career counseling, clients who made improvements in problem-solving appraisal also reported
improved working alliance across sessions. Lucas (2004) suggests that future research build upon
this study and examine the role of problem-solving appraisal in the career counseling process.
Clearly, problem-solving plays an important role in career and academic outcomes and initial
findings also suggest that it influences the career counseling process variables.
The PSI has demonstrated acceptable internal consistency across independent samples and
cultural groups; however, most PSI research has been conducted with European American college
students (Neville, Heppner, & Wang, 1997). Cross-cultural studies of the PSI have included Italian
high school students (Nota et al., 2009), African American college students (Harrison, 1994; Neville
et al., 1997), French-speaking Canadian adults (Marcotte, Alain, & Gosselin, 1999), Turkish college
students (Sahin, Sahin, & Heppner, 1993), South African college students (Heppner, Pretorius, Wei,
Lee, & Wang, 2002; Pretorius, 1992, 1993, 1996; Pretorius & Diedricks, 1994), and adolescents in
China (Cheng & Lam, 1997). To date, no studies have examined the psychometric properties of this
widely used problem-solving instrument with Mexican American samples. However, researchers
have noted the importance of using psychological and career-related instruments that have been vali-
dated with Latinos to support culturally competent career assessment practices with individuals from
this group (Acevedo-Polakovich et al., 2007; Fouad, 1994; Leong & Hartung, 2000). Persons of
Mexican descent represent the largest subgroup of Latinos, who are now the nation’s largest
racial/ethnic minority group (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2009). They are the fastest growing groups
in the United States, represent a significant proportion of youth in this country (U.S. Census Bureau),
and at 21.4%, have higher high school dropout rates than Whites (5.3%) and African Americans (8.4;
U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Research that evaluates the validity of measures of problem-
solving appraisal with Mexican Americans is warranted and can be used to enhance career decision-
making processes with this group.
Among samples of primarily White college students, the estimates of internal consistency of each
of the factor scores as well as the total PSI score ranged from .72 to .90 (Heppner, 1988; Moss,
1983). The PSI scores have also been found to have acceptable internal consistency estimates across
various cultures (e.g., Heppner et al., 2002; Nota et al., 2009; Pretorius, 1993; Sahin et al., 1993),
with a coefficients ranging from .83 to .89 for the PSI total, .76–.87 for Problem-Solving Confidence
subscale (PSC), .77–.84 for Approach-Avoidance Style subscale (AAS), and .69–.76 for Personal
Control subscale (PC). According to Heppner (1988), the total PSI scores correlated .80 over
2 weeks, .81 over 3 weeks as well as 4 months, and .60 over 2 years with samples of White college
students, Black college students, and French Canadian adults, respectively.
A wide range of studies have supported the validity of the PSI. As evidence of construct validity,
the three factor scores and the total PSI score were related to students’ problem-solving self-reports
(e.g., Rath et al., 2004) and ratings of level of program-solving skills and perceived level of
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satisfaction with skills (Heppner & Petersen, 1982). The PSI also predicted a wide range of
psychological adjustment factors, such as anxiety, hopelessness, depression, and self-esteem
(Heppner & Baker, 1997). Discriminant validity evidence was provided by correlating PSI factors
with measures of both verbal and quantitative intelligence (Heppner & Petersen, 1982). Bivariate
correlation coefficients were small: PSC (r ¼ .08–.10), AAS (r ¼ .11–.12), and PC (r ¼ .09–.15),
respectively.
Several studies examined the factor structure of the PSI via exploratory factor analysis or
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with samples of college student from the Midwest United States
(e.g., Heppner, Baumgardner, Larson, & Petty, 1988), South Africa (Heppner et al., 2002), and
Turkey (Sahin et al., 1993), high school student samples from the Midwest United States (Heppner,
Manley, Perez, & Dixon, 1994) and Italy (Nota et al., 2009), and French Canadian adults (LaPorte,
Sabourin, & Wright, 1988). The PSI factor structure was replicated satisfactorily across these samples.
Although the prior research findings for these groups indicate strong test–retest reliability, a sta-
ble factor structure, and associations with psychological health, it is still too early to conclude the
PSI’s cross-cultural applicability with Mexican American samples. More research is needed with
diverse samples to extend knowledge about the external validity of the PSI and correlates to
problem-solving appraisal. Indeed, numerous scholars have indicated that more attention is needed
to examine psychometric issues of the PSI with across cultural groups (Heppner, Witty, et al., 2004;
Leong, 1990; Nota et al., 2009). Recently, researchers simultaneously called for further research on
the PSI with respect to diversity issues (i.e., race/ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, and social
class; Lucas, 2004; O’Neil, 2004; Suzuki & Ahluwalia, 2004). Heppner, Witty, et al. (2004)
suggested that the knowledge base and limitations on the PSI would be significantly extended by exami-
ning the generalizability or external validity of the existing PSI literature to other sample groups.
The primary purpose of this study is to extend previous findings by examining the psychometric
properties and the factor structure of the PSI with a sample of Mexican American high school stu-
dents. To date, no studies have examined the validity of the PSI with Mexican Americans. We
hypothesized that the PSI would exhibit adequate internal consistency reliability. In addition, the PSI
factor structure will be examined to determine whether it is consistent with factor structures previ-
ously reported (Heppner, 1988; Heppner et al., 2002; Sahin et al., 1993). Based on findings from a
previous study with Black South Africans (Heppner et al., 2002), we expected the bilevel model to
demonstrate superior fit with the current sample. Specifically, we hypothesized that the factor struc-
ture would support the use of the three factors of the PSI (i.e., Problem-Solving Confidence,
Approach-Avoidance Style, and Personal Control) and a general problem-solving factor (see
Figure 1). Thus, the results are expected to provide support for the assessment of problem-solving
appraisal using the PSI for Mexican Americans youth. Another purpose of the present study was to
increase our understanding of problem solving by comparing problem-solving appraisal scores across
gender groups. Specifically, group comparisons on PSI scores will be conducted to determine whether
Mexican American high school men and women scored differently on the PSI and its subscales.
Method
Participants
The sample consisted of 164 (43% female; 57% male) Mexican American students attending two
public high schools. The schools enrolled a large percentage of Mexican American students and
were located in a rural city near the Texas–Mexico border. The majority of the participants were
10th graders (58%; n ¼ 95), followed by 11th graders (23%; n ¼ 38), 12th graders (14%; n ¼23), and 9th graders (3%, n ¼ 5). Three students (2%) did not indicate grade level. Students’ age
ranged from 14 to 20 years with a mean age of 16.3 years (SD ¼ .99). Among the participants,
Huang and Flores 3
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29 (18%) identified as first generation, 60 (36%) as second generation, 21(13%) as third generation,
32 (19%) as fourth generation, and 16 (10%) as fifth generation. Six students (4%) did not indicate
generation level.
InstrumentsDemographic questionnaire. A demographic survey was included to gather information about
participants’ age, gender, grade level, race, generational status, and career choices.
Problem-solving appraisal. The PSI-Form B (Heppner, 1988; Heppner & Petersen, 1982) is a
measure of self-perceived problem-solving ability and consists of 35 items (including three filler
items). Participants responded to items using a 6-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree
(1) to strongly disagree (6). The PSI is comprised of three subscales: Problem-Solving Confidence
(PSC; 11 items) measures the level of self-assurance while engaging in problem-solving activities;
Approach-Avoidance Style (AAS; 16 items) measures the tendency to avoid or approach various
.57
.67 .66 .68 .76 .32 .43 .56 .49 .64
.58 .59 .49 .82 .76 .66 .72 .60 PSC2 PSC3 AAS1PSC1 AAS2 AAS3 AAS4 PC1 PC2
AASPSC PC
PSI1
1 1 1
.24* .36* .56* .83* .12 .41* .54* .62* .71*
.79* .73* .58* .28* .55* .52* .52* .32* .37*
e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8 e9
nt nt nt nt nt nt nt nt nt
Figure 1. The bilevel model that was tested. The rectangles are measured variables, the large ovals arelatent constructs, and the small circles are residual variances. Factor loadings are standardized and aresignificant (*p < .05), except for the paths designated ‘‘nt,’’ which were fixed at 1. The variance from F1 to F4was fixed to 1. PSI ¼ problem-solving inventory; PSC ¼ problem-solving confidence; AAS ¼ approach-avoidance style; PC ¼ personal control.
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problem-solving activities; and Personal Control (PC; 5 items) assesses the belief that one is in
control of emotions and behaviors while engaged in problem-solving activities. Item scores are
summed and can be used as a single measure of problem-solving appraisal or by subscale. Low
scores on the PSI indicate greater perception of effective problem-solving ability, an approach
problem-solving style, the presence of personal control, and overall problem-solving appraisal.
The PSI has demonstrated acceptable internal consistency among different samples (e.g., substance
abusers, college students) and cultural groups (e.g., Black South Africans) with a coefficients ranging
from .72 to .90 (Heppner, 1988; Heppner et al., 2002). Furthermore, the reliability coefficients for the
total inventory and for each factor at 2 weeks ranged from .83 to .89. At 3 weeks they ranged from
.77 to .81. The last retesting produced coefficients ranging from .44 to .65 (Heppner, 1988). Validity
estimates indicate that the PSI is positively related to subjective career distress, active problem solving,
and academic self-efficacy (Larson, Toulouse, Ngumba, Fitzpatrick, & Heppner, 1994).
Procedure
Students were invited to participate in the study and were allowed class time to complete the
surveys. Parents received an informed consent form prior to the data collection. All students
received pencils for participating in the study and were entered into a random drawing for
T-shirts, caps, and gift certificates to local movie theaters, restaurants, and stores.
Results
Reliability
Estimates of internal consistency were examined for the PSI total and each of the three factors. For
the current study (see Table 1), the a coefficients were as follows: .86 for PSI total, .77 for PSC, .76
for AAS, and .66 for PC.
Preliminary Analyses
The means, standard deviations, range, skewness, and kurtosis for each of the measured variable in
this study are present in Table 1. The skewness and kurtosis values were examined to determine
whether the variables met the assumptions of normality. The test of multivariate normality demon-
strated that the data met these assumptions.
Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, Ranges, Reliability Coefficients, Skewness, Kurtosis, and BivariateCorrelations for the Problem-Solving Inventory and its Three Subscales
Variable a M SD Range
Males (n ¼ 71) Females (n ¼ 93)
1 2 3 4M SD Range M SD Range
1. PSC .77 2.58 .69 1.00–4.90 2.6 .67 1–4.6 2.6 .71 1.2–4.9 –2. AAS .76 3.05 .62 1.19–4.19 3.1 .62 1.2–4.2 2.9 .61 1.4–4.2 .59* –3. PC .66 3.54 .92 1.25–5.80 3.6 .92 1.6–5.8 3.5 .92 1.6–5.6 .13 .49* –4. PSI .86 2.96 .55 1.28–3.90 3.0 .54 1.3–3.7 2.9 .56 1.6–3.9 .78* .93* .59* –Skewness .43 �.76 �.08 �.84Kurtosis .61 .59 .12 .29
Note: PSC ¼ problem-solving confidence; AAS ¼ approach-avoidance style; PC ¼ personal control; PSI ¼ problem-solvinginventory; M ¼ mean; SD ¼ standard deviation. N ¼ 164.*p < .01.
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Confirmatory Factor Analysis
To test the hypothesis that the PSI assesses one general factor as well as three specific factors, the
bilevel model was examined via CFA. Specifically, the bilevel model consists of three first-order
factors (i.e., PSC, AAS, and PC) and the second-order factor is one general factor (i.e., PSI). That
is, each indicator (i.e., PSI items) loads on both a general factor and one of the three specific factors
of the PSI (see Figure 1). Prior to conducting the CFA, we carried out an item-bundling (or parcel-
ing) procedure. In general, the purpose of item bundling is to (a) estimate fewer parameters for both
the individual constructs and the hypothesized model, (b) lessen the impact of statistically unreliable
individual items (e.g., items with lower reliabilities and communalities), (c) diminish the possibility
that items will load on more than one factor, (d) decrease the chances of correlated residuals, and (e)
reduce influence of sampling error (MacCallum, Widaman, Zhang, & Hong, 1999). In Heppner
et al.’s study (2002), the authors divided the 32 items from the three PSI factors into nine bundles
(three bundles for PSC, four bundles for AAS, and two bundles for PC). The same factor structure
was used in this current study. Next, on the basis of factor loadings for each factor and assigned
items, the items were rank-ordered. The specific procedure, Item-to-Construct Balance, was used
to create bundles with equivalent item difficulty and discrimination (Little, Cunningham, Shahar,
& Widaman, 2002). For example, for the PSC latent variable, items ranked 1, 6, 7, and 11 for the
PSC were assigned to Bundle 1 (PSC1), items ranked 2, 5, 8, and 10 to Bundle 2 (PSC2), and items
3, 4, and 9 to Bundle 3 (PSC3). The correlation matrix among the nine item-bundles of the PSI is
presented in Table 2.
Next, the original three-factor orthogonal structure of the PSI was tested using the EQS (Version
6.1) statistical package (Bentler & Wu, 1993). A variety of goodness-of-fit indices (GFIs) were used
to assess the adequacy of the model fit, including the chi-square test (w2; Kline, 2005; best if not
significant), the chi-square/degrees of freedom ratio (w2/df; Kline, 2005; ratios under 3 are consid-
ered to represent an adequate model), the comparative fit index (CFI; Loehlin, 1998; best if .95 or
greater), the GFI (Loehlin, 1998; best if .95 or greater), the root-mean-square error of approximation
(RMSEA; MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996; best if .05 or less), and the standardized root-
mean-squared residual (SRMR; Loehlin, 1998; best if .05 or less). Examination of the w2 ¼ 43.87
(df ¼ 16, p < .05), CFI (.95), GFI (.94), RMSEA (.10), SRMR (.04), and w2/df ratio (3.05) indicated
that, in general, the model was an appropriate fit of the data. In conclusion, these results provide
empirical support for a bilevel model for the current sample
Table 2. Correlation Matrix Among Nine Item-Bundles of the Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI)
Item-Bundle PSC1 PSC2 PSC3 AAS1 AAS2 AAS3 AAS4 PC1 PC2
PSC1 –PSC2 .71** –PSC3 .60** .62** –AAS1 .33** .28** .33** –AAS2 .49** .35** .39** .24** –AAS3 .39** .39** .37** .43** .42** –AAS4 .42** .42** .44** .56** .36** .62** –PC1 .20* .04 �.07 .32** .23** .29** .28** –PC2 .21** .11 .00 .43** .18** .36** .43** .56** –
Note: PSC1, PSC2, and PSC3 are from 11 items of the problem-solving confidence factor of the PSI; AAS1, AAS2, AAS3, andAAS4 are from 16 items of the approach-avoidance style factor of the PSI; PC1 and PC2 are from five items of the personalcontrol factor of the PSI. N ¼ 164.* p < .05.**p < .01.
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Factor Intercorrelations
Intercorrelations among the factors are presented in Table 1. The correlation among the factor scores
were as follows: PSC/AAS ¼ .59, PSC/PC ¼ .13, AAS/PC ¼ .49.
Gender Group Comparisons
Table 1 shows the PSI means and standard deviations for the total sample and by gender groups.
Lower scores indicate that the individual perceives himself/herself as more confident in problem
solving, has a tendency to approach problems, and perceives more personal control over his/her
problems. To compare the scores of Mexican American male and female the PSI total and its three
factors, a between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. The
MANOVA revealed no significant gender difference on the PSI total and the three factors, Wilk’s
l F(4, 159) ¼ 1.63, p > .05.
Discussion
The purpose of the present study was to examine the reliability and validity of the PSI with Mexican
American high school students. The results of this study support and extend previous research con-
ducted with primarily White (Heppner, 1988), Black (Heppner, 1988), South African (Pretorius,
1993), and Turkish (Sahin et al., 1993) college students. Our findings indicated that the PSI means,
standard deviations, and estimates of internal consistency from the current sample are comparable to
those reported in these previous research studies. The results of this study also suggest that the psy-
chometric properties of problem-solving appraisal as measured by the PSI seem to generalize to
Mexican American high school students. Thus, findings suggest that the PSI may be a useful instru-
ment to examine problem-solving appraisal with Mexican American high school students seeking
career guidance.
The initial estimates of reliability suggest that the PSI and the three factors have acceptable levels
of internal consistency with the Mexican American high school sample, and these findings are con-
sistent with those reported in previous studies (Heppner, 1988; Heppner et al., 2002; Pretorius, 1993;
Sahin et al., 1993). In the current study, PC scores demonstrated lower internal consistency (.66)
than PSC and AAS scores; however, this is similar to the a coefficient reported with a sample of
high school students (Heppner et al., 1994).
Consistent with findings from a prior study on South African college students (Heppner et al.,
2002), the results of the present study provide additional support for the generalizability of the factor
structure of the PSI across independent samples. Specifically, our results supported the three factors
and a general problem-solving factor of the PSI with the sample of Mexican high school students.
These results lend strong support for the consistency of the PSI factor structure across various cul-
tures and to a high school sample, and imply that problem-solving appraisal as measured by the PSI
may be a useful construct across different cultures.
In the present study, the correlations between problem-solving confidence and approach-
avoidance style (PSC/AAS) and the personal control (AAS/PC) showed similar results to those
reported in prior studies (Heppner, 1988; Heppner et al., 2002), but the correlation between the
problem-solving confidence and personal control (PSC/PC) was lower than that reported in these
previous studies (.13). Results suggest that further examination of the relationship between PSI and
PC is needed, especially with a Mexican American sample.
No gender differences were reported on PSI scores between men and women in the previous stud-
ies with American college students (Heppner, Hibel, Neal, Weinstein, & Rabinowitz, 1982; Heppner
& Krieshok, 1983; Larson & Heppner, 1985). However, researchers found that women were more
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concerned about the future than men (Constantine, Chen, & Cessay, 1997) and experience environ-
mental and individual obstacles in their careers (Betz, 2006). Even though there we also found no
differences among Mexican American high school men and women, it might be helpful for future
research to understand the needs of men and women in problem solving independently.
The present findings have implications for assessment and practice. First, our data suggests that
the PSI is appropriate for use in research with Mexican American high school students. With regard
to counseling practice, it might be beneficial for school counselors to help high school students
become more aware of the factors that influence their perceived problem-solving ability. In addition,
due to a possible lack of experiences to successfully practice problem-solving skills, Mexican
American high school students may perceive more barriers in problem solving than college students.
Therefore, counselors can help Mexican American high school students increase confidence by
teaching them some problem-solving skills (e.g., exploring options), providing opportunities to
practice their skills, and providing support and encouragement when they accomplish these
problem-solving tasks. Another way to create and strengthen self-efficacy in solving problems is
through vicarious learning experiences (Bandura, 1986, 1989). Thus, counselors and family
members can serve as social models in effective problem solving for Mexican American high school
students. Because research has linked problem-solving abilities with confidence in making decision
(Larson & Heppner, 1985), focusing on the development of problem-solving skills among Mexican
American youth may assist in overall psychological adjustment and educational and career
development.
Findings from this study are based on a sample of Mexican American high school students from a
rural city near the Texas–Mexico border. In terms of students’ background, this sample might not
represent other Mexican American high school students across the United States. Therefore, the gen-
eralizability of the findings to other Mexican American high school students is not known. More
studies are needed to determine whether the PSI factor structure exhibits similar findings in other
Mexican American high school, adult, and college student samples.
Also, although the PSI has been investigated in previous studies with the international samples,
the only diverse U.S. racial/ethnic group previously examined was a Black undergraduate student
sample. Thus, more studies with diverse U.S. racial/ethnic groups are needed. Future research might
also examine cultural variables, such as acculturation, that influence Mexican American high school
students’ problem-solving appraisal. Finally, more studies are needed to examine the external valid-
ity of PSI scores with Mexican American student samples. These studies might explore the relations
between problem-solving appraisal and postsecondary educational intentions, persistence in college,
and academic satisfaction.
To summarize, the results of this study provide empirical support for Heppner et al.’s (2002) bile-
vel model of the PSI with Mexican American high school students. In particular, the three factors of
the PSI as well as a general problem-solving factor were presented. These results extend the general-
izibility of utilizing the PSI with Mexican American high school students. Given the outcome of this
study, the PSI appears to be an appropriate tool for examining problem-solving appraisal with
Mexican American high school students.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication
of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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