Towards an international scale of telic-paratelic dominance

The Telic Dominance Scale (TDS; Murgatroyd, Rushton, Apter, & Ray, Journal of Personality Assessment, 42, 519–528, 1978), originally developed using U.K. samples, has been found to have limited effectiveness when used on U.S. samples. In an attempt to address its shortcomings, a new scale measuring telic–paratelic dominance, the Paratelic Dominance Scale (PDS; Cook & Gerkovich, Advances in Reversal Theory, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, 1993), was developed using both U.K. and U.S. samples. The PDS has a three-factor structure; the factors identified as playfulness, spontaneity and arousal seeking. The present study cross-validated the TDS and the PDS using different diverse international samples. First, individual TDS and PDS items were evaluated to determine their potential contribution for inclusion in effective international scales. Second, an internationally relevant measure of telic–paratelic dominance was developed. Several factor analyses were performed on TDS and PDS data from a combined Australian, Netherlands and North American (USA) sample (N=1203). Items of the TDS proved to be of limited value in that a large number of factors (some unique), each accounting for little variance, emerged. Analyses of PDS items were more fruitful, yielding readily interpretable factor structures. However, psychometrically sound two- and three-factor structures, replicable across validation and separate Australian, Netherlands and North American (USA) samples, emerged only when reduced item sets were used. The availability of shortened scales, comprised of internally consistent yet non-redundant scale items, is thought to be advantageous in, for example, international comparative work.