The present study explores psychometric differences in baseline data from rural African-American (AA) and rural South-African (SA) adolescents to establish the cross-cultural validity of the Harter Perceived Competence Scale (PCSC). Two versions of the PCSC (one English and one Sepedi) were collected from 223 rural AA families and 157 rural SA families. A multinational research team was assembled to establish content validity of the translated versions of the PCSC. Principle components analysis and multiple group confirmatory factor analysis were used to investigate structural validity. The results have implications for intercontinental research and the theoretical construct of perceived competence.