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Validation of the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS): efficiency to predict the willingness towards occupational chance, and affection by social desirability
Personality and Individual Differences 35 (2003) 1307–1314 www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
Validation of the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS): efficiency to predict the willingness towards occupational chance, and affection by social desirability Marcus Roth* Institute of Developmental, Differential and Diagnostic Psychology, University of Leipzig, Seeburgstraße 14-20, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Received 24 April 2002; received in revised form 2 September 2002; accepted 12 November 2002
Abstract Taking up the suggestion by Arnett, the present study examines the criterion oriented validity of the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (Arnett, 1994), using the willingness towards occupational change as criterion. Furthermore the extent to which the AISS Scales are influenced by social desirability was tested. The study analysed a sample of German employees of public utility companies in Leipzig (N=205) aged 21–60 years. In addition to sensation seeking, the levels of achievement motivation and social desirability were also assessed. Willingness toward occupational change was measured by the duration of present employment and the intention of changing workplace. The findings indicate that the AISS proved to be unaffected by social desirability. Regression analyses show that the AISS-scale ‘‘Intensity’’ is, in addition to achievement motivation, a significant predictor of the intention of changing workplace. However, no relationship was found linking sensation seeking to the duration of present employment. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction To date, one of the instruments frequently used to assess sensation seeking, the Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V) by Zuckerman, Eysenck, and Eysenck (1978) has been systematically criticised by Arnett (1994). First, and perhaps most seriously, the SSSV includes several items regarding alcohol and drug consumption, and sexual behaviour. Such behaviour has also * Tel.: +49-341-9735-918; fax: +49-341-9735-909. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Roth). 0191-8869/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0191-8869(02)00351-3
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been the focus of research using the scale, giving rise to tautological relations. Secondly, the language of some items is dated, reflecting the idioms from the time when the questionnaire was devised. Thirdly, several items concern strenuous physical activities, so that we cannot be sure whether age related differences in the responses indicate differences in sensation seeking or differences in physical strength and endurance. He subsequently developed a new measure, the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS). To address the limitations inherent in the SSSV, the AISS consists exclusively of items that are in no way age related or concerned with physical strength, antisocial or norm-breaking behaviour. In addition to the avoidance of criterion contamination, the renouncement of norm breakingand risk-items also reflects a somewhat different conceptionalisation of the construct compared with Zuckerman: Sensation seeking is not only a potential for taking risks, but is more generally a quality of seeking intensity and novelty in sensory experiences, which may be expressed in multiple areas of a person’s life (Arnett, 1994, p. 290). Thus, sensation seeking is considered to be a predisposition to a variety of different behavioural ends. Which ends an individual chooses is likely to depend on the nature of the socialization environment, over the course of the person’s development as well as in the present (Arnett, 1994, pp. 293/294). However, previous studies using the AISS only partially address this issue because they all focus on various forms of risk behaviour primarily in adolescents or college students: Analogous to studies using the SSS-V (e.g. Donohew, Zimmerman, Cupp, Novak, Colon, & Abell, 2000; Hampson, Severson, Burns, Slovic, & Fisher, 2001) or related instruments (e.g. Hansen & Breivik, 2001; McCoul & Haslam, 2001), behaviours such as engaging in high risk sport (Zarevski, Marusic, Zolotic, Bunjevac, & Vukosav, 1998), alcohol use (Andrew & Cronin, 1997), marihuana use (Watten, 1997) or gambling (Powell, Hardoon, Derevensky, & Gupta, 1999) were related to the scales of the AISS. Even Arnett himself focused solely on risk behaviour (e.g. unprotected sex, smoking marijuana, or risky driving) to validate his instrument (Arnett, 1994, 1996). The main purpose of the present study, therefore, is to improve the validity of the AISS by applying a different criterion rather than various types of risk behaviour. In keeping with Arnett’s suggestion (1994) to explore the sensation seeking trait in the area of work, we used the willingness toward occupational change as criterion with the following manifestations: ‘‘duration of present employment’’ and ‘‘intention to change workplace’’. It is expected that the high sensation seeker’s general desire for intense and novel sensory experiences is manifested in a comparatively high willingness to change workplace and leads subsequently to shorter average periods of employment compared to low sensation seekers. Based on a perspective of personality psychology, a willingness to change jobs can be traced primarily back to achievement motivation. This variable has therefore been included for comparison. In this way we expect to demonstrate a willingness to change job which is independent of occupational achievement motivation.
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The current study also determines the extent to which the scales of the AISS are affected by the tendency towards using a socially desirable response set. It was expected that the effect would be either minimal or non-existent because, in contrast to the SSS-V, the items were intended to describe behaviours and attitudes which are generally neutrally evaluated.
2. Method 2.1. Subjects and procedures The participants in this study were employees of public utility companies of the city of Leipzig, Germany. Of the 640 employees invited to take part in the study, 228 participated. Responses from subjects who obviously falsified their answers (e.g. accidental responses, not serious marginal notes) or those who had more than three missing data or who were out of the range between 21 and 60 years were excluded (n=23). This left a final sample size of 205 persons aged between 21 and 60 (21–36 years: n=61, 37–48 years: n=93, 49–60 years: n=51). Of this sample, 46% were male (n=95) and 54% were female (n=110). 46% (n=94) had completed a technical education, 43% (n=88) a business education and 9% (n=18) had absolved both (missing information concerning education: n=5). The subjects completed the questionnaires individually at their workplace during working hours. In each case, the same person administered the scales (including the instructions given in the original scales) with no time limits and also assured participants of the confidentiality and anonymity of the data. 2.2. Measures In addition to questions relating to demographic information, the participants were given the following questionnaires: The AISS (Arnett, 1994) consists of 20 items. There are two subscales, intensity and novelty, consisting of 10 items each. Subjects have to indicate the extent to which the items describe them (1=describes me very well, 2=describes me somewhat, 3=does not describe me very well, 4=does not describe me at all). In the current study, a German version was used which was translated by the author of this article and then back-translated by a bilingual student unfamiliar with the instrument. Based on item analyses, we excluded items 5, 15, and 20 in order to improve internal reliability. In the present sample the internal reliabilities were therefore estimated to be 0.53 (Intensity), 0.52 (Novelty) and 0.61 (Total score). The Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17; Sto¨ber, 1999) is a German questionnaire, constructed in the style of the Marlowe–Crowne Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960), designed to assess the tendency towards a socially desirable response set. The SDC-17 consists of 17 statements (e.g. ‘‘Sometimes I just throw my rubbish on the street’’, ‘‘I always eat a healthy diet’’) with dichotomous response choices (1=true, 2=false). Seven items were worded negatively. The scale has been shown to correlate highly with the Marlowe–Crowne Scale (r =0.74) and the internal reliabilities have been found to range from 0.72 to 0.75.
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The short form of the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI Schuler & Prochaska, 2000) consists of 30 items which measure the global construct of a job-related achievement orientation (sample items include ‘‘It’s important for me to achieve a position of responsibility’’, ‘‘Difficult problems stimulate me more than easy ones’’, and ‘‘My ambition can easily be stimulated’’. Responses were in a seven-point Likert-type format where only the extreme points are expressed (1=does not describe me at all, 7=describes me completely). The internal reliability for the shortform is 0.94. Subjects were also requested to indicate how many years they had been employed in the company. Furthermore, they were asked how often they intended to change their workplace during their professional life. The response options for the first question were ‘‘up to 4 years’’, ‘‘4–8 years’’, ‘‘9–13 years’’, ‘‘14–18 years’’, and ‘‘more than 18 years’’. For the second question the response options were ‘‘never again’’, ‘‘1–2 times’’, ‘‘3–4 times’’, and ‘‘more than 4 times’’.
3. Results 3.1. The influence of social desirability To explore the extent to which the AISS Scales are influenced by social desirability, we divided the sample into ‘‘high social desirability’’ (n=112) and ‘‘low social desirability’’ (n=93) by the median of the distribution of the SDS-17scores. Differences between both groups in the AISS Scales were tested using analyses of variance. As can be seen in Table 1, no significant differences were found on either AISS subscales, or were differences found on the Total Scale between subjects who scored high in social desirability and those whose scores were low. Using Cohen’s (1988) definition of the magnitude of effect sizes (f), the differences found proved to be small. Bivariate correlation between the AISS Scales and the Social Desirability Scale were also small with a maximum of 5% common variance: r=0.18 (P<0.01, two-tailed) for Novelty, r=0.16 (P<0.05, two-tailed) for Intensity, and r=0.22 (P<0.001, two-tailed) for the Total scale. 3.2. Criterion oriented validity: prediction of the willingness toward occupational change Logistic regression analyses were used to predict the willingness toward occupational change. The modelling was conducted separately for the variables ‘‘intention of changing workplace’’ and
Table 1 Means and standard deviations of AISS Scales in groups of low vs. high social desirability (SODE), and results of ANOVA AISS Scales
Novelty Intensity Total Scale
Low SODE (n=93)
High SODE (n=112)
ANOVA
M
S.D.
M
S.D.
F(df)
P
f
2.54 2.29 2.41
0.50 0.44 0.37
2.63 2.34 2.48
0.49 0.50 0.40
1.96 (1, 204) 0.58 (1, 204) 1.83 (1, 204)
NS NS NS
0.10 0.05 0.09
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‘‘duration of present employment’’ as criterion variables, whereby a high intention (three times or more) and a low duration of present employment (up to 8 years) were predicted. The logistic regression was preferred to a normal linear regression analysis because the response categories as well as the response distributions of the work variables did not suggest an interval scale. We chose a hierarchical procedure, where age was entered into block 1, novelty and intensity into block 2, and achievement motivation into block 3. (The correlation between the sensation seekingscales and achievement motivation were not significant and ranged from 0.09 to 0.11). Except for age, the predictor variables were dichotomised by the median. (Thus, the odds ratio indicates the relative risk of subjects with high scores compared to those with lower scores.) Only young and middle aged subjects were analysed to predict a tendency to change workplace, whereas only middle aged and older subjects were considered when predicting the duration of present employment. As expected, age was the most important explanatory variable for a high intention of changing workplace (see Table 2). The addition of sensation seeking and achievement motivation led to a significant model 2-improvement in every case. In the final model therefore, younger age as well as higher novelty seeking and higher achievement motivation significantly predicted the intention of changing the workplace (2model =30.41, df=4, P<0.001). However, as can be seen in Table 3, age was the only significant predictor when predicting a short duration of present employment. No significant improvement of the prediction resulted from adding either sensation seeking variables, nor by involving achievement motivation.
Table 2 Results of the logistic regression analyses to predict the intention of changing workplace (three times or more)a among employees aged 21–48 (N=151)a Predictors
Model 1 OR (95% CI)
Step 1 Age
0.20 (0.10–0.43)
Step 2 Novelty Intensity Step 3 Achievement motivation R2 (Nk) 2LL 2step(df) a
0.17 163.60 18.63 (1)***
Model 2 Wald 17.3***
OR (95% CI)
Model 3 Wald
OR (95% CI)
Wald
0.17 (0.08–0.38)
18.7***
0.16 (0.07–0.36)
19.6***
0.59 (0.26–1.32) 2.85 (1.27–6.40)
1.6 6.4*
0.57 (0.25–1.29) 2.98 (1.31–6.77)
1.8 6.8**
0.23 156.16 7.44 (2)*
2.31 (1.04–5.15) 0.26 151.81 4.34 (1)*
4.2*
For the logistic regression analysis the response categories ‘‘not any more’’ (n=30) and ‘‘1–2 times’’ (n=77) were coded as 0, the categories ‘‘3–4 times’’ (n=28) and ‘‘more than 4 times’’ (n=16) were codes as 1 (missing data: n=3). OR=odds ratio res. exp(b); CI=confidence interval; R2 (Nk)=R2 according to Nagelkerke; 2LL= 2 log likelihood statistic. * P <0.05; P <0.01; P <0.001.
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Table 3 Results of the logistic regression analyses to predict the duration of present employment (up to 8 years) among employees aged 36–60 (N=143)a Model 1 Predictors Step 1 Age
OR (95% CI) 0.17 (0.06–0.52)
Step 2 Novelty Intensity
Model 2 Wald 9.7**
OR (95% CI)
0.14 97.23 11.03 (1)***
Wald
OR (95% CI)
Wald
0.16 (0.05–0.51)
9.5**
0.16 (0.05–0.51)
9.6**
1.76 (0.53–5.32) 0.45 (0.15–1.35)
1.8 2.0
1.78 (0.59–5.39) 0.44 (0.14–1.33)
1.0 2.1
1.24 (0.43–3.57)
0.2
Step 3 Achievement motivation R2 (Nk) 2LL 2step(df)
Model 3
0.18 94.17 3.04 (2)
0.18 94.02 0.16 (1)
a For the logistic regression analysis the response categories ‘‘up to 4 years’’ (n=6) and ‘‘4–8 years’’ (n=12) were coded as 1, the categories ‘‘9–13 years’’ (n=18), ‘‘14–18 years’’ (n=20) and ‘‘more than 18 years’’ (n=87) were coded as 0 (missing data: n=1). OR=odds ratio res. exp(b); CI=confidence interval; R2 (Nk)=R2 according to Nagelkerke; 2LL= 2 log likelihood statistic. ** P< 0.01; P <0.001
4. Discussion The present results suggest that the AISS is relatively free from the biasing effects of social desirability. This is especially important because sensation seeking is often used as a predictor of risk behaviours which are often evaluated negatively in a social context. So, the strong correlation between sensation seeking and, for example, drug consumption or risky sexual behaviour, which was found out on the basis of questionnaire data, doesn’t need to be explained by the social desirability bias. The most important finding of the study is the proof of the validity of the AISS with regard to the willingness toward occupational change which differs from risk behaviour. The current results, therefore, suggest that it is the sensation seeker’s desire for intense stimulation that predisposes one to frequent changes in workplace. While the lack of correlation between the Novelty subscale and an intention to change is surprising, it remains consistent with previous research showing no relationship between risk behaviour and the Novelty Scale (Andrew & Cronin, 1997; Arnett, 1994; Powell et al., 1999). Up to now, no behaviour has been identified which is connected solely to novelty and not to intensity. Based on past findings, the validity of this subscale must therefore be viewed with some scepticism. What we can assume, however, is that sensation seeking measured by the AISS, as also remarked in recent studies related to the SSSV (e.g. Buckhalt & Oates, 2002; Joireman, Fick, &
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Anderson, 2002; Ripa, Hansen, Mortensen, Sanders, & Reinisch, 2001) is important in more ways than as a simple explanation for risk behaviour. The finding that sensation seeking predicts only the willingness toward but not the actual duration of employment should not be overly interpreted. Due to the fact that achievement motivation also fails to offer predictions regarding this criterion, it appears safe to assume that external influences play a more important role in determining the duration of employment rather than individual personality traits. Finally it should be noted that this present study was able primarily to highlight the major limitations of the AISS. In keeping with previous studies, we found only low internal consistencies (see e.g. Andrew & Cronin, 1997; Arnett, 1994, 1998; Zarevski et al., 1998) and our results also suggest that some items (in the present study 5, 15, and 20) are highly imprecise indicators of the dimension which they attempt to measure (see e.g. Ferrando & Chco, 2001; Haynes, Miles, & Clements, 2000). References Andrew, M., & Cronin, C. (1997). Two measures of sensation seeking as predictors of alcohol use among high school males. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 393–401. Arnett, J. (1994). Sensation seeking: a new conceptualization and a new scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 289–296. Arnett, J. (1996). Sensation seeking, aggressiveness, and adolescent reckless behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 20, 693–702. Arnett, J. (1998). Risk behavior and family role transitions during the twenties. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27, 301–319. Buckhalt, J. A., & Oates, D. F. (2002). Sensation seeking and performance on divided attention tasks varying in cognitive complexity. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 67–78. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed). Hillsdale: Erlbaum. Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 349–354. Donohew, L., Zimmerman, R., Cupp, P. S., Novak, S., Colon, S., & Abell, R. (2000). Sensation seeking, impulsive decision-making, and risky sex: implications for risk-taking and design of interventions. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 1089–1091. Ferrando, P. J., & Chco, E. (2001). The construct of sensation seeking as measured by Zuckerman’s SSS-V and Arnett’s AISS: a structural equation model. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1112–1133. Hampson, S. E., Severson, H. H., Burns, W. J., Slovic, P., & Fisher, K. J. (2001). Risk perception, personality factors and alcohol use among adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 167–181. Hansen, E. B., & Breivik, G. (2001). Sensation seeking as a predictor of positive and negative risk behavior among adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 627–640. Haynes, C. A., Miles, J. N. V., & Clements, K. (2000). A confirmatory factor analysis of two models of sensation seeking. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 823–839. Joireman, J. A., Fick, C. S., & Anderson, J. W. (2002). Sensation seeking and involvement in chess. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 509–515. McCoul, M. D., & Haslam, N. (2001). Predicting high risk sexual behaviour in heterosexual and homosexual men: the roles of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1303–1310. Powell, J., Hardoon, K., Derevensky, J. L., & Gupta, R. (1999). Gambling and risk-taking behavior among university students. Substance Use and Misuse, 34, 1167–1184. Ripa, C. P. L., Hansen, H. S., Mortensen, E. L., Sanders, S. A., & Reinisch, J. M. (2001). A Danish version of the Sensation Seeking Scale and its relations to a broad spectrum of behavioral and psychological characteristics. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1371–1386.
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Schuler, H., & Prochaska, M. (2000). Leistungsmotivationsinventar (LMI). Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI). Go¨ttingen: Hogrefe. Sto¨ber, J. (1999). Die Soziale-Erwu¨nschtheits-Skala-17 (SES-17): Entwicklung und erste Befunde zu Reliabilita¨t und Validita¨t. [The Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17): Development and first results on reliability and validity]. Diagnostica, 45, 173–177. Watten, R. G. (1997). Use of drugs, coping styles, mental absorption and some outcomes related to health and social activity. European Addiction Research, 3, 192–198. Zarevski, P., Marusic, I., Zolotic, S., Bunjevac, T., & Vukosav, Z. (1998). Contribution of Arnett’s inventory of sensation seeking and Zuckerman’s sensation seeking scale to the differentiation of athletes engaged in high and low risk sports. Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 763–768. Zuckerman, M., Eysenck, S., & Eysenck, H. J. (1978). Sensation seeking in England and America: cross-cultural, age, and sex comparisons. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 139–149.
Validation of the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS): efficiency to predict the willingness towards occupational chance, and affection by social desirability Marcus Roth* Institute of Developmental, Differential and Diagnostic Psychology, University of Leipzig, Seeburgstraße 14-20, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Received 24 April 2002; received in revised form 2 September 2002; accepted 12 November 2002
Abstract Taking up the suggestion by Arnett, the present study examines the criterion oriented validity of the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (Arnett, 1994), using the willingness towards occupational change as criterion. Furthermore the extent to which the AISS Scales are influenced by social desirability was tested. The study analysed a sample of German employees of public utility companies in Leipzig (N=205) aged 21–60 years. In addition to sensation seeking, the levels of achievement motivation and social desirability were also assessed. Willingness toward occupational change was measured by the duration of present employment and the intention of changing workplace. The findings indicate that the AISS proved to be unaffected by social desirability. Regression analyses show that the AISS-scale ‘‘Intensity’’ is, in addition to achievement motivation, a significant predictor of the intention of changing workplace. However, no relationship was found linking sensation seeking to the duration of present employment. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction To date, one of the instruments frequently used to assess sensation seeking, the Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V) by Zuckerman, Eysenck, and Eysenck (1978) has been systematically criticised by Arnett (1994). First, and perhaps most seriously, the SSSV includes several items regarding alcohol and drug consumption, and sexual behaviour. Such behaviour has also * Tel.: +49-341-9735-918; fax: +49-341-9735-909. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Roth). 0191-8869/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0191-8869(02)00351-3
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been the focus of research using the scale, giving rise to tautological relations. Secondly, the language of some items is dated, reflecting the idioms from the time when the questionnaire was devised. Thirdly, several items concern strenuous physical activities, so that we cannot be sure whether age related differences in the responses indicate differences in sensation seeking or differences in physical strength and endurance. He subsequently developed a new measure, the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS). To address the limitations inherent in the SSSV, the AISS consists exclusively of items that are in no way age related or concerned with physical strength, antisocial or norm-breaking behaviour. In addition to the avoidance of criterion contamination, the renouncement of norm breakingand risk-items also reflects a somewhat different conceptionalisation of the construct compared with Zuckerman: Sensation seeking is not only a potential for taking risks, but is more generally a quality of seeking intensity and novelty in sensory experiences, which may be expressed in multiple areas of a person’s life (Arnett, 1994, p. 290). Thus, sensation seeking is considered to be a predisposition to a variety of different behavioural ends. Which ends an individual chooses is likely to depend on the nature of the socialization environment, over the course of the person’s development as well as in the present (Arnett, 1994, pp. 293/294). However, previous studies using the AISS only partially address this issue because they all focus on various forms of risk behaviour primarily in adolescents or college students: Analogous to studies using the SSS-V (e.g. Donohew, Zimmerman, Cupp, Novak, Colon, & Abell, 2000; Hampson, Severson, Burns, Slovic, & Fisher, 2001) or related instruments (e.g. Hansen & Breivik, 2001; McCoul & Haslam, 2001), behaviours such as engaging in high risk sport (Zarevski, Marusic, Zolotic, Bunjevac, & Vukosav, 1998), alcohol use (Andrew & Cronin, 1997), marihuana use (Watten, 1997) or gambling (Powell, Hardoon, Derevensky, & Gupta, 1999) were related to the scales of the AISS. Even Arnett himself focused solely on risk behaviour (e.g. unprotected sex, smoking marijuana, or risky driving) to validate his instrument (Arnett, 1994, 1996). The main purpose of the present study, therefore, is to improve the validity of the AISS by applying a different criterion rather than various types of risk behaviour. In keeping with Arnett’s suggestion (1994) to explore the sensation seeking trait in the area of work, we used the willingness toward occupational change as criterion with the following manifestations: ‘‘duration of present employment’’ and ‘‘intention to change workplace’’. It is expected that the high sensation seeker’s general desire for intense and novel sensory experiences is manifested in a comparatively high willingness to change workplace and leads subsequently to shorter average periods of employment compared to low sensation seekers. Based on a perspective of personality psychology, a willingness to change jobs can be traced primarily back to achievement motivation. This variable has therefore been included for comparison. In this way we expect to demonstrate a willingness to change job which is independent of occupational achievement motivation.
M. Roth / Personality and Individual Differences 35 (2003) 1307–1314
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The current study also determines the extent to which the scales of the AISS are affected by the tendency towards using a socially desirable response set. It was expected that the effect would be either minimal or non-existent because, in contrast to the SSS-V, the items were intended to describe behaviours and attitudes which are generally neutrally evaluated.
2. Method 2.1. Subjects and procedures The participants in this study were employees of public utility companies of the city of Leipzig, Germany. Of the 640 employees invited to take part in the study, 228 participated. Responses from subjects who obviously falsified their answers (e.g. accidental responses, not serious marginal notes) or those who had more than three missing data or who were out of the range between 21 and 60 years were excluded (n=23). This left a final sample size of 205 persons aged between 21 and 60 (21–36 years: n=61, 37–48 years: n=93, 49–60 years: n=51). Of this sample, 46% were male (n=95) and 54% were female (n=110). 46% (n=94) had completed a technical education, 43% (n=88) a business education and 9% (n=18) had absolved both (missing information concerning education: n=5). The subjects completed the questionnaires individually at their workplace during working hours. In each case, the same person administered the scales (including the instructions given in the original scales) with no time limits and also assured participants of the confidentiality and anonymity of the data. 2.2. Measures In addition to questions relating to demographic information, the participants were given the following questionnaires: The AISS (Arnett, 1994) consists of 20 items. There are two subscales, intensity and novelty, consisting of 10 items each. Subjects have to indicate the extent to which the items describe them (1=describes me very well, 2=describes me somewhat, 3=does not describe me very well, 4=does not describe me at all). In the current study, a German version was used which was translated by the author of this article and then back-translated by a bilingual student unfamiliar with the instrument. Based on item analyses, we excluded items 5, 15, and 20 in order to improve internal reliability. In the present sample the internal reliabilities were therefore estimated to be 0.53 (Intensity), 0.52 (Novelty) and 0.61 (Total score). The Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17; Sto¨ber, 1999) is a German questionnaire, constructed in the style of the Marlowe–Crowne Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960), designed to assess the tendency towards a socially desirable response set. The SDC-17 consists of 17 statements (e.g. ‘‘Sometimes I just throw my rubbish on the street’’, ‘‘I always eat a healthy diet’’) with dichotomous response choices (1=true, 2=false). Seven items were worded negatively. The scale has been shown to correlate highly with the Marlowe–Crowne Scale (r =0.74) and the internal reliabilities have been found to range from 0.72 to 0.75.
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The short form of the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI Schuler & Prochaska, 2000) consists of 30 items which measure the global construct of a job-related achievement orientation (sample items include ‘‘It’s important for me to achieve a position of responsibility’’, ‘‘Difficult problems stimulate me more than easy ones’’, and ‘‘My ambition can easily be stimulated’’. Responses were in a seven-point Likert-type format where only the extreme points are expressed (1=does not describe me at all, 7=describes me completely). The internal reliability for the shortform is 0.94. Subjects were also requested to indicate how many years they had been employed in the company. Furthermore, they were asked how often they intended to change their workplace during their professional life. The response options for the first question were ‘‘up to 4 years’’, ‘‘4–8 years’’, ‘‘9–13 years’’, ‘‘14–18 years’’, and ‘‘more than 18 years’’. For the second question the response options were ‘‘never again’’, ‘‘1–2 times’’, ‘‘3–4 times’’, and ‘‘more than 4 times’’.
3. Results 3.1. The influence of social desirability To explore the extent to which the AISS Scales are influenced by social desirability, we divided the sample into ‘‘high social desirability’’ (n=112) and ‘‘low social desirability’’ (n=93) by the median of the distribution of the SDS-17scores. Differences between both groups in the AISS Scales were tested using analyses of variance. As can be seen in Table 1, no significant differences were found on either AISS subscales, or were differences found on the Total Scale between subjects who scored high in social desirability and those whose scores were low. Using Cohen’s (1988) definition of the magnitude of effect sizes (f), the differences found proved to be small. Bivariate correlation between the AISS Scales and the Social Desirability Scale were also small with a maximum of 5% common variance: r=0.18 (P<0.01, two-tailed) for Novelty, r=0.16 (P<0.05, two-tailed) for Intensity, and r=0.22 (P<0.001, two-tailed) for the Total scale. 3.2. Criterion oriented validity: prediction of the willingness toward occupational change Logistic regression analyses were used to predict the willingness toward occupational change. The modelling was conducted separately for the variables ‘‘intention of changing workplace’’ and
Table 1 Means and standard deviations of AISS Scales in groups of low vs. high social desirability (SODE), and results of ANOVA AISS Scales
Novelty Intensity Total Scale
Low SODE (n=93)
High SODE (n=112)
ANOVA
M
S.D.
M
S.D.
F(df)
P
f
2.54 2.29 2.41
0.50 0.44 0.37
2.63 2.34 2.48
0.49 0.50 0.40
1.96 (1, 204) 0.58 (1, 204) 1.83 (1, 204)
NS NS NS
0.10 0.05 0.09
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‘‘duration of present employment’’ as criterion variables, whereby a high intention (three times or more) and a low duration of present employment (up to 8 years) were predicted. The logistic regression was preferred to a normal linear regression analysis because the response categories as well as the response distributions of the work variables did not suggest an interval scale. We chose a hierarchical procedure, where age was entered into block 1, novelty and intensity into block 2, and achievement motivation into block 3. (The correlation between the sensation seekingscales and achievement motivation were not significant and ranged from 0.09 to 0.11). Except for age, the predictor variables were dichotomised by the median. (Thus, the odds ratio indicates the relative risk of subjects with high scores compared to those with lower scores.) Only young and middle aged subjects were analysed to predict a tendency to change workplace, whereas only middle aged and older subjects were considered when predicting the duration of present employment. As expected, age was the most important explanatory variable for a high intention of changing workplace (see Table 2). The addition of sensation seeking and achievement motivation led to a significant model 2-improvement in every case. In the final model therefore, younger age as well as higher novelty seeking and higher achievement motivation significantly predicted the intention of changing the workplace (2model =30.41, df=4, P<0.001). However, as can be seen in Table 3, age was the only significant predictor when predicting a short duration of present employment. No significant improvement of the prediction resulted from adding either sensation seeking variables, nor by involving achievement motivation.
Table 2 Results of the logistic regression analyses to predict the intention of changing workplace (three times or more)a among employees aged 21–48 (N=151)a Predictors
Model 1 OR (95% CI)
Step 1 Age
0.20 (0.10–0.43)
Step 2 Novelty Intensity Step 3 Achievement motivation R2 (Nk) 2LL 2step(df) a
0.17 163.60 18.63 (1)***
Model 2 Wald 17.3***
OR (95% CI)
Model 3 Wald
OR (95% CI)
Wald
0.17 (0.08–0.38)
18.7***
0.16 (0.07–0.36)
19.6***
0.59 (0.26–1.32) 2.85 (1.27–6.40)
1.6 6.4*
0.57 (0.25–1.29) 2.98 (1.31–6.77)
1.8 6.8**
0.23 156.16 7.44 (2)*
2.31 (1.04–5.15) 0.26 151.81 4.34 (1)*
4.2*
For the logistic regression analysis the response categories ‘‘not any more’’ (n=30) and ‘‘1–2 times’’ (n=77) were coded as 0, the categories ‘‘3–4 times’’ (n=28) and ‘‘more than 4 times’’ (n=16) were codes as 1 (missing data: n=3). OR=odds ratio res. exp(b); CI=confidence interval; R2 (Nk)=R2 according to Nagelkerke; 2LL= 2 log likelihood statistic. * P <0.05; P <0.01; P <0.001.
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Table 3 Results of the logistic regression analyses to predict the duration of present employment (up to 8 years) among employees aged 36–60 (N=143)a Model 1 Predictors Step 1 Age
OR (95% CI) 0.17 (0.06–0.52)
Step 2 Novelty Intensity
Model 2 Wald 9.7**
OR (95% CI)
0.14 97.23 11.03 (1)***
Wald
OR (95% CI)
Wald
0.16 (0.05–0.51)
9.5**
0.16 (0.05–0.51)
9.6**
1.76 (0.53–5.32) 0.45 (0.15–1.35)
1.8 2.0
1.78 (0.59–5.39) 0.44 (0.14–1.33)
1.0 2.1
1.24 (0.43–3.57)
0.2
Step 3 Achievement motivation R2 (Nk) 2LL 2step(df)
Model 3
0.18 94.17 3.04 (2)
0.18 94.02 0.16 (1)
a For the logistic regression analysis the response categories ‘‘up to 4 years’’ (n=6) and ‘‘4–8 years’’ (n=12) were coded as 1, the categories ‘‘9–13 years’’ (n=18), ‘‘14–18 years’’ (n=20) and ‘‘more than 18 years’’ (n=87) were coded as 0 (missing data: n=1). OR=odds ratio res. exp(b); CI=confidence interval; R2 (Nk)=R2 according to Nagelkerke; 2LL= 2 log likelihood statistic. ** P< 0.01; P <0.001
4. Discussion The present results suggest that the AISS is relatively free from the biasing effects of social desirability. This is especially important because sensation seeking is often used as a predictor of risk behaviours which are often evaluated negatively in a social context. So, the strong correlation between sensation seeking and, for example, drug consumption or risky sexual behaviour, which was found out on the basis of questionnaire data, doesn’t need to be explained by the social desirability bias. The most important finding of the study is the proof of the validity of the AISS with regard to the willingness toward occupational change which differs from risk behaviour. The current results, therefore, suggest that it is the sensation seeker’s desire for intense stimulation that predisposes one to frequent changes in workplace. While the lack of correlation between the Novelty subscale and an intention to change is surprising, it remains consistent with previous research showing no relationship between risk behaviour and the Novelty Scale (Andrew & Cronin, 1997; Arnett, 1994; Powell et al., 1999). Up to now, no behaviour has been identified which is connected solely to novelty and not to intensity. Based on past findings, the validity of this subscale must therefore be viewed with some scepticism. What we can assume, however, is that sensation seeking measured by the AISS, as also remarked in recent studies related to the SSSV (e.g. Buckhalt & Oates, 2002; Joireman, Fick, &
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Anderson, 2002; Ripa, Hansen, Mortensen, Sanders, & Reinisch, 2001) is important in more ways than as a simple explanation for risk behaviour. The finding that sensation seeking predicts only the willingness toward but not the actual duration of employment should not be overly interpreted. Due to the fact that achievement motivation also fails to offer predictions regarding this criterion, it appears safe to assume that external influences play a more important role in determining the duration of employment rather than individual personality traits. Finally it should be noted that this present study was able primarily to highlight the major limitations of the AISS. In keeping with previous studies, we found only low internal consistencies (see e.g. Andrew & Cronin, 1997; Arnett, 1994, 1998; Zarevski et al., 1998) and our results also suggest that some items (in the present study 5, 15, and 20) are highly imprecise indicators of the dimension which they attempt to measure (see e.g. Ferrando & Chco, 2001; Haynes, Miles, & Clements, 2000). References Andrew, M., & Cronin, C. (1997). Two measures of sensation seeking as predictors of alcohol use among high school males. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 393–401. Arnett, J. (1994). Sensation seeking: a new conceptualization and a new scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 289–296. Arnett, J. (1996). Sensation seeking, aggressiveness, and adolescent reckless behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 20, 693–702. Arnett, J. (1998). Risk behavior and family role transitions during the twenties. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27, 301–319. Buckhalt, J. A., & Oates, D. F. (2002). Sensation seeking and performance on divided attention tasks varying in cognitive complexity. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 67–78. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed). Hillsdale: Erlbaum. Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 349–354. Donohew, L., Zimmerman, R., Cupp, P. S., Novak, S., Colon, S., & Abell, R. (2000). Sensation seeking, impulsive decision-making, and risky sex: implications for risk-taking and design of interventions. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 1089–1091. Ferrando, P. J., & Chco, E. (2001). The construct of sensation seeking as measured by Zuckerman’s SSS-V and Arnett’s AISS: a structural equation model. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1112–1133. Hampson, S. E., Severson, H. H., Burns, W. J., Slovic, P., & Fisher, K. J. (2001). Risk perception, personality factors and alcohol use among adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 167–181. Hansen, E. B., & Breivik, G. (2001). Sensation seeking as a predictor of positive and negative risk behavior among adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 627–640. Haynes, C. A., Miles, J. N. V., & Clements, K. (2000). A confirmatory factor analysis of two models of sensation seeking. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 823–839. Joireman, J. A., Fick, C. S., & Anderson, J. W. (2002). Sensation seeking and involvement in chess. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 509–515. McCoul, M. D., & Haslam, N. (2001). Predicting high risk sexual behaviour in heterosexual and homosexual men: the roles of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1303–1310. Powell, J., Hardoon, K., Derevensky, J. L., & Gupta, R. (1999). Gambling and risk-taking behavior among university students. Substance Use and Misuse, 34, 1167–1184. Ripa, C. P. L., Hansen, H. S., Mortensen, E. L., Sanders, S. A., & Reinisch, J. M. (2001). A Danish version of the Sensation Seeking Scale and its relations to a broad spectrum of behavioral and psychological characteristics. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1371–1386.
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