Development and Validation of the Social Motivation Scale in People With Disabilities

Impact and Implications This study adds to a sparse literature on the social motivations of people with disabilities using a large sample of people with disabilities spread throughout the United States. Understanding social motivations is assumed as critical to improving social effectiveness. The development and validation of this Social Motivation Inventory provides a mechanism for assessing multiple social motivations. Research specific to the social motivations of people with disabilities is limited. This newly validated tool provides a measure of social motivations that may be used for further research related to the social motivations of people with disabilities. Objective: Social effectiveness is key to success in the labor market. For decades, social motivation has been empirically studied as both a presumed cause and consequence of social effectiveness. Yet, few direct measures of social motivation exist, and even fewer have been validated with a disability population. This study provides the measurement structure and psychometric properties of a newly created measure of social motivation tested with a general disability population. Research Design: Participants included 1,013 US adults with disabilities. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were implemented to validate the measure. Results: Results of the EFA suggest that a reduced 26-item inventory exhibits a 5-factor structure in a general population of people with disabilities. These results were confirmed with the CFA. Concurrent validity analysis revealed that most factors were significantly associated with relevant psychosocial variables in the expected directions. Conclusions: The Social Motivation Inventory provides a useful tool for enhancing understanding of social motivation in rehabilitation psychology and rehabilitation counseling research and practice.

Automated summary

This study contributes to the limited literature on social motivations of people with disabilities by using a large sample across the United States. The newly validated Social Motivation Inventory provides a measure for assessing social motivations, which can be used for further research in this area.