Interrelationships among attitudes toward academic subjects

Individual differences in attitudes toward five major academic interests (mathematics, science, reading, writing, and oral communication) were interrelated. Multiple measures for each academic subject were collected. Analyses suggested strong convergent validity within subject area. A smallest space analysis and factor analysis of the correlation matrix for these measures demonstrated a relative independence among the specific attitudes. A second-order factor analysis suggested two underlying factors: one included the oral communication, writing, and reading attitudes constructs; the other was composed of the science and math attitudes constructs. In addition, significant sex differences were found for math and science attitudes, with females reporting less positive attitudes toward these subjects than males.