 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The technical and statistical details that follow are provided for those who wish to know more about Adversity Quotient® (AQ®).
Reliability & Validity
In repeated, independent studies conducted by an Educational Testing Service statistician — ETS is the producer of the SAT — the AQ Profile and each of its CORE dimensions have been shown to be highly reliable, or consistent. The AQ Profile has an overall reliability of .88, higher than most popularly accepted psychological instruments and achievement tests.
Supporting Research
The Global Resilience Project expands and coordinates this research worldwide. Norms AQ scores are presently available from a diverse sample of 500,000 employees and students in 37 different companies and educational institutions worldwide. The distribution of their AQ scores provides norms against which anyone taking the AQ Profile can compare his or her score.
Mean and Range
AQ means vary from group to group based on occupation and industry. A general finding is that those in what are stereotypically the adversity-rich occupations tend to have the highest average AQs. Conversely, groups in the most stable occupations often score below the global mean, validating the notion that people tend to select occupations based on their AQ. References Abramson, L.Y., Seligman, M.E.P., & Teasdale, J.D. (1978). “Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49-74. Campbell, D.T. (1960). “Recommendations
for the APA test standards regarding Campbell, D.T., & Fiske, D.W. (1959). “Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix.” Psychological Bulletin, 56, 81-105. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis
for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hiroto, D.S., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1975). “Generality of learned helplessness in man.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1-11. Kobasa, S.C. (1979). “Stressful life events, personality and health: An inquiry into hardiness.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 168-177. Peterson, C., Maier, S.F., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1993). Learned helplessness: A theory for the age of personal control. New York: Oxford University Press. Rotter, J. (1966). “Generalized expectancies for internal versus external locus of control of reinforcement.” Psychological Monographs, 81(1, Whole No. 609). Schneider, L.M., & Briel, J.B. (1990). Validity of the GRE: 1988-89 Summary Report. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Seligman, M.E.P. (1991). Learned optimism. New York: Knopf. Stoltz, P.G. (1997). Adversity quotient: Turning obstacles into opportunities. New York:Wiley. Wortman, C.B., & Brehm, J.W. (1975). “Responses
to uncontrollable outcomes: An integration of reactance theory and
the learned helplessness model.” In L. |
The
AQ Profile is a scale-based, forced-choice questionnaire designed
to reveal an individual’s response pattern to adverse situations
(Stoltz, 1997). It is a normative instrument; since higher AQ scores
reflect greater resilience, they are more desirable than lower scores.
A
wealth of research suggests that resilience, performance, good health
and success are largely determined by how one responds to life’s
events. This research covers the topics of high performance (
AQ
scores range from 40 to 200, with a global mean of 147.5. When measured,
most groups reflect a fairly broad range of two or more standard
deviations in either direction from the mean, as well as a standard
bell curve distribution of AQ scores. 
|
