Assessing Chinese adults' intellectual abilities: Validation of Chinese Primary Mental Abilities scale

Abstract

The psychometric properties of the Chinese version of Thurstone Primary Mental Ability scale (PMA-C scale) were investigated in a Hong Kong Chinese adult sample. The respondents were 413 people aged 40 or older from a cross-sectional survey of a representative community sample of the adult population in Hong Kong. Relations between five factors of PMA-C scale (including spatial relation, inductive reasoning, number skill, verbal meaning, and word fluency) were examined and all these five factors were positively and significantly related. The reliability and convergent validity of the PMA-C were also established. The PMA-C demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.9). In terms of convergent validity, the Chinese version of Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire were positively and moderately correlated to all five factors of PMA-C scale. Results indicate that the convergent validity of the PMA-C was acceptable.