Development and Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of Multiple Intelligences Scale for Iranian Primary School Students – The Parent Form

The purpose of this study was to develop the Multiple Intelligences Scale for Iranian elementary school students - the Parent Form - and evaluate the psychometric properties of the proposed scale. The present study had a descriptive design. The statistical population of the study was comprised of all parents of primary school students in Tehran in 2019-20 school year from among whom 554 individuals were selected by convenience sampling method. A perusal of 83 items led to the conclusion that all of them were valid enough to be included in the scale. Results of explanatory factor analysis showed that the eight-component structure based on principal component analysis and varimax rotation, explaining 40 percent of the total variance, was the best structure. Based on the findings, eight factors were identified which were as follows: interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, naturalistic intelligence and verbal or linguistic intelligence. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that explanatory factor analysis had better fit indexes than one-factor structure. In addition, the subscales had sufficient internal consistency which ranged from 0.53 (logical-mathematical intelligence) to 0.81 (naturalistic intelligence). Based on research findings and regarding the optimal psychometric properties of the Multiple Intelligences Scale for Iranian Primary School Students - the Parent Form, it can be utilized for identifying multiple intelligences of Iranian students in educational settings and for therapeutical and clinical purposes.