Preferred Name
Mason
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3669-8732
Date of Graduation
5-9-2024
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
Second Advisor
Sara J. Finney
Third Advisor
Joseph M. Kush
Fourth Advisor
Kimberly Yousey-Elsener
Abstract
Higher education experiences routine scrutiny as the cost continues to rise and evidence of a return on investment is variable. Higher education institutions would benefit from measuring post-graduate outcomes to better articulate their impact. The current study examines the factor structure and measurement invariance of the National Alumni Career Mobility (NACM) a 25-item survey, that is widely used to assess alumni career outcomes. Prior psychometric reports for the NACM purported two different factor structures: a five-factor and bifactor model. National reports disaggregated the data by demographic variables, including first-generation status. Disaggregation by first-generation status is problematic given the lack of measurement invariance evidence for the NACM. Using two-phases, the current study 1) tested two competing factor structures (i.e., a five-factor and bifactor structure) and 2) tested measurement invariance of the championed model for first-generation status. Results supported a five-factor model. Further analysis on a secondary sample was conducted removing one item to address local misfit; thus, a five-factor model with 24 items was ultimately championed. Strong support (scalar) of measurement invariance for first-generation status was found for the championed model suggesting that observed differences in NACM scores can be attributed to latent differences in career outcomes. Overall, the study contributes to a better understanding of the factor structure of the NACM and its applicability for comparing career outcomes among first-generation and non-first-generation students.
