2007 · Study · English
Aggregating Indices of Risk and Protection for Adolescent Behavior Problems: The Communities That Care Youth Survey
Feinberg, M. E., Ridenour, T. A., & Greenberg, M. T.
Feinberg, M. E., Ridenour, T. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2007). Aggregating Indices of Risk and Protection for Adolescent Behavior Problems: The Communities That Care Youth Survey. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40(6), 506–513. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2006.09.002
Summary
Psychometric study aimed at making the Communities That Care Youth Survey easier to use for research and for local resource decisions. The 31 risk and protective factor scales were examined in two waves of the Pennsylvania survey of pupils in Grades 6–12 (43,842 respondents in 2001; 101,988 in 2003). Factor analysis and reliability testing yielded seven coherent aggregate indices: community cohesion, family cohesion, family risk, school support for prosocial activities, antisocial peer domain, attitudes toward risky behaviour, and risky behavioural tendencies. Four scales – religiosity, academic performance, personal transitions and mobility, and early initiation of drug use and antisocial behaviour – did not fit and were left out. The indices correlated with one another and with antisocial behaviour and substance use as expected, and the structure replicated across the two waves. The authors recommend the indices for researchers and communities; for European sites they offer a tested way to summarise a crowded survey profile.