Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-6mz5d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-20T08:16:55.656Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychometric evaluation of the Malay Filial Piety Scale (FPS-M) for adolescents in Malaysia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2019

Chee-Seng Tan*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Counselling, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Perak Campus), Malaysia
Soon-Aun Tan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Counselling, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Perak Campus), Malaysia
Sarvarubini Nainee
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Counselling, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Perak Campus), Malaysia
Anna Wen-Huey Ong
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Counselling, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Perak Campus), Malaysia
Kuang-Hui Yeh
Affiliation:
Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
*
Author for correspondence: Chee-Seng Tan, Email: tcseng@utar.edu.my

Abstract

The 16-item Filial Piety Scale (FPS) has been used in different cultural groups to measure individuals’ loyalty to their family and traditions. Nevertheless, the language could be a barrier for Malay-speaking populations to fully comprehend the items. Thus, the present study translated the FPS into the Malay language (FPS-M) and examined psychometric qualities of the scale in a sample of 621 secondary school students in Malaysia, which was randomly split into an exploration sample and a validation sample. Traditional confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling were applied to the exploration sample to identify the best-fit model. Results indicated that the hypothetical two-correlated-factor model was superior to the single-factor model. The model was then verified using the validation sample. The FPS-M reported good internal consistency and positive correlation with self-reported life satisfaction. However, the measurement invariance test revealed that the factor structure of the FPS-M was not equivalent across gender groups. In contrast, the factor loadings, but not intercepts, were found equivalent across the Chinese and Indian students. Overall, the results support that the FPS-M is a useful tool for measuring filial piety attitude in Malaysian adolescents. More studies are needed to identify cultural differences and modify the items to ensure that the FPS-M is applicable for all ethnicity groups.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - SA
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019
Figure 0

Table 1. Goodness-of-fit indices for the Malay version of the Filial Piety Scale (Exploration Sample, N = 314)

Figure 1

Table 2. Goodness-of-fit indices for tests of invariance of the 16-item, two-factor model of the Malay version of the Filial Piety Scale for Chinese and Indian participants using MLR