Table 1.
Items of the genetic knowledge scale with the percent correct for each participant group, the factor loadings for one, two, and three factor models, the factor it was assigned to, the discrimination, and the difficulty.
| # | Item (True/False) | % Correct | Factor Loadings | Final Factor |
Discrimi nation |
Difficu lty |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parent-1 | Parent-2 | AYA-2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||
| n=285 | n=180 | n=196 | Factor 1 | Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | |||||
| 1 | Some diseases are caused by genes, environment, and lifestyle. (T) |
97 | 95 | 92 | 0.78 | 0.72 | 0.12 | 0.57 | 0.35 | 0.05 | 1/Applied | 2.06 | −2.23 |
| 2 | A gene is a disease. (F) | 92 | 91 | 86 | 0.72 | 0.9 | −0.15 | 0.81 | −0.06 | 0.16 | 1/Applied | 2.16 | −1.64 |
| 3 | You can see a gene with the naked eye. (F) | 91 | 88 | 82 | 0.71 | 0.68 | 0.08 | 0.59 | 0.07 | 0.25 | 1/Applied | 1.85 | −1.58 |
| 4 | Healthy parents can have a child with an inherited disease. (T) |
96 | 97 | 88 | 0.71 | 0.8 | −0.06 | 0.69 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1/Applied | 1.96 | −2.08 |
| 5 | A person with an altered (mutated) gene may be completely healthy. (T) |
77 | 71 | 69 | 0.58 | 0.54 | 0.08 | 0.45 | 0.16 | 0.13 | 1/Applied | 1.17 | −1.07 |
| 6 | All serious diseases are inherited. (F) | 89 | 92 | 82 | 0.75 | 0.83 | −0.03 | 0.69 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 1/Applied | 2.3 | −1.47 |
| 7 | Genes are instruction for making proteins, which help the body grow and work properly. (T) |
49 | 39 | 53 | 0.48 | −0.08 | 0.74 | −0.18 | 0.51 | 0.4 | 2/Basic | 1.34 | 0.1 |
| 8 | The child of a person with an inherited disease will always have the same disease. (F) |
84 | 80 | 73 | 0.59 | 0.62 | 0.01 | 0.52 | 0.13 | 0.09 | 1/Applied | 1.34 | −1.32 |
| 9 | A gene is a piece of DNA. (T) | 81 | 82 | 82 | 0.49 | 0.27 | 0.31 | 0.1 | 0.61 | −0.09 | 2/Basic | 1.22 | −1.55 |
| 10 | Altered (mutated) genes can cause disease. (T) | 79 | 61 | 67 | 0.75 | 0.41 | 0.46 | 0.29 | 0.34 | 0.39 | - | - | - |
| 11 | Genes are inside of cells. (T) | 64 | 50 | 53 | 0.58 | −0.01 | 0.79 | −0.13 | 0.56 | 0.45 | 2/Basic | 2.1 | −0.32 |
| 12 | A chromosome contains many genes. (T) | 64 | 59 | 64 | 0.49 | 0.08 | 0.55 | 0.12 | 0.73 | 0.08 | 2/Basic | 1.5 | −0.48 |
| 13 | Genes determine traits such as height, eye color, and facial appearance. (T) |
97 | 92 | 89 | 0.49 | 0.08 | 0.55 | 0.12 | 0.73 | 0.08 | 1/Applied | 2.08 | −1.97 |
| 14 | A person has thousands of genes. (T) | 69 | 57 | 66 | 0.49 | 0.18 | 0.41 | 0.05 | 0.47 | 0.13 | 2/Basic | 1.04 | −0.72 |
| 15 | Identical twins have different sets of genes. (F) | 48 | 44 | 31 | 0.47 | 0.41 | 0.1 | 0.33 | 0.16 | 0.1 | 1/Applied | 0.91 | 0.4 |
| 16 | Humans have 20 pairs of chromosomes. (F) | 28 | 16 | 36 | 0.45 | 0.07 | 0.49 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.71 | 2/Basic | 1.01 | 1.17 |
| 17 | Parents pass both copies of each chromosome to their child. (F) |
37 | 20 | 29 | 0.48 | 0.14 | 0.46 | 0.08 | −0.12 | 0.87 | 2/Basic | - | - |
| 18 | A genetic test can tell you if you have a higher chance to develop a specific disease. (T) |
85 | 80 | 64 | 0.7 | 0.51 | 0.27 | 0.4 | 0.26 | 0.26 | 1/Applied | 1.7 | −1.08 |