Descriptive statistics
Means, standard deviations, and scale ranges for each media processing and critical thinking measure in samples A and B are shown in Table 1. The means for the measures were relatively consistent across samples.
Table 1 Descriptive Statistics, Internal Consistency Reliability and Test-retest Reliability for Media Processing and Critical Thinking Variables
Scale range Sample A (N = 216) Sample B (N = 208)
Time 1 Time 1 Time 2
Mean (SD) α CR Mean (SD) α CR Mean (SD) ICC
Media attitudes questionnaire (MAQ)
 Realism scepticism subscale 1 to 5 4.13 (0.94) .80 a .80 3.80 (1.06) .87 .86 4.10 (0.99) .64***
 Similarity scepticism subscale 1 to 5 3.49 (1.12) .83 .85 3.37 (1.00) .76 .79 3.49 (1.04) .81***
 Desirability scepticism subscale 1 to 5 2.90 (1.03) .82 .84 2.94 (0.98) .79 .80 3.16 (1.04) .70***
Critical thinking about media messages 6 to 36 17.56 (6.91) .90 .90 NA NA NA NA NA
Critical thinking about media messages – Appearance focus 6 to 36 15.78 (7.94) .95 .95 NA NA NA NA NA
Fake subscale 1 to 5 NA NA NA 3.04 (0.99) .92 .93 3.06 (1.07) .80***
Note. α Cronbach’s alpha, CR construct reliability, ICC intraclass correlation coefficient, NA data not available
*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001
aSpearman-Brown coefficient calculated for internal consistency of a two-item scale