Measuring Youth Perceptions of Being Known and Loved and Positive Youth Development: Cross-National Findings from Rwanda and El Salvador.

Background: Dynamic, relational developmental systems-based models of development emphasize that developmentally-nurturant youth-adult relationships elicit in youth perceptions of being known and loved. Although such perceptions are foundations of positive youth development (PYD), such measures do not exist. Objective: We sought to create a theoretically-predicated measure of youth perceptions of being known and loved by capitalizing on data sets in two countries (Rwanda and El Salvador) wherein a multi-national study of PYD was being conducted by Compassion International (CI). Method: With Rwanda data (n = 1,204, M age = 11.84, 50% CI-supported), exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses enabled refining the measure for robustness and parsimony. Measures of intentional self-regulation, hopeful future expectations, transcendence, and contribution were used for validation of the known and loved measure within the nomological net of constructs proposed in the Lerner and Lerner PYD model. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the use of the model within the El Salvador data set (n = 1,205, M age = 13.03, 51% CI-supported). Results: Robust psychometric properties were established in both national settings. Measurement invariance was found across age, gender, urban-rural location, CI-enrollment status, and nations, and involved both mean differences and correlations among latent factors. Conclusions: The results provide evidence for a theory-predicated measure of youth perceptions of being known and loved and that scores for this construct covary within a nomological net specified in the Lerner and Lerner model of PYD. These findings serve international development organizations seeking theory-predicated measures for use in evaluating PYD programs in low- and middle-income countries. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10566-022-09725-6.

Development of a psychological empowerment measure for youth in rural Guatemala.

Psychological empowerment (PE) is conceptualized as a context-dependent construct, yet few have studied its applicability to youth in international settings. The current study used a participatory approach to design a measure of empowerment for youth from a rural, Indigenous community in Guatemala and aimed to compare this new measure to extant measures. Youth co-researchers (aged 19-22) collaborated in the development of four culturally relevant empowerment scales through a formative process involving classroom observations and focus groups. Newly developed scales and two widely used, extant scales were administered to a school-based sample of 273 youth (mean age = 14.7, SD = 1.6). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) showed that one of the newly developed PE scales called Self-Efficacy for Community Action (SECA), which was moderately correlated with the extant scales, appeared to more effectively capture empowerment in the local context than the extant measures. These results support the notion that PE is contextually dependent and suggest that youth participation may aid in instrument design.

Contribution to the validation of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS-6) in a Portuguese population / Contribuição para a validação da Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS-6) para a população Portuguesa

The KADS-6 is a self-report assessment instrument known for its ease application in assessing depression in young people. This study aimed to contribute to the validation of the Portuguese version of this tool and analyze its psychometric characteristics in comparison with other self-report instruments for depression in adolescents, in Portugal. Two samples were collected, a non-clinical group of in school youth (n=773; 52.4% male) and a clinical sample (n=134 youth; 44% male). Comparisons also used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Results: The factor analysis revealed the unidimensionality of the measure. The KADS-6 demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) in both clinical (.74) and school (.80) samples. Its convergent validity with the BDI-II and CDI was r=.44; r=.61, respectively in the clinical sample and r=.60; r=.57 in the school sample. The KADS-6, a short and time efficient instrument, showed good psychometric characteristics in terms of internal consistency and convergent validity in comparison with the BDI-II and the CDI. Given its ease of use and scoring, the KADS-6 could be considered for use in both school and clinical settings when addressing adolescent depression. (AU)

A Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS-6) é uma medida de autorrelato, conhecida pela sua facilidade de aplicação na avaliação da depressão em jovens. Este estudo teve como objetivos contribuir para a validação da versão portuguesa desta ferramenta e analisar as suas características psicométricas em comparação com outros instrumentos de autorrelato para a avaliação da depressão em adolescentes, em Portugal. Foram recolhidas duas amostras, uma não clínica, formada por jovens em contexto escolar (n=773; 52,4% rapazes) e outra amostra clínica (n=134; 44% rapazes). Foram também utilizados o Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) e o Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). A análise fatorial revelou a unidimensionalidade da medida. A KADS-6 demonstrou boa consistência interna (alfa de Cronbach) nas amostras não clínica (.74) e clínica (.80). A validade convergente com a BDI-II e CDI foi, respetivamente, r = .44; r = .61 na amostra clínica e r = .60; r = .57 na amostra não clínica. Conclui-se que a KADS-6 mostrou boas características psicométricas em termos de consistência interna e validade convergente em comparação com o BDI-II e o CDI. Dada a sua facilidade de uso e interpretação, a KADS-6 pode ser considerada para uso em contexto escolar e em ambientes clínicos, para avaliar a depressão adolescente. (AU)

Development and validation of a Haitian Creole screening instrument for depression.

Developing mental health care capacity in postearthquake Haiti is hampered by the lack of assessments that include culturally bound idioms Haitians use when discussing emotional distress. The current paper describes a novel emic-etic approach to developing a depression screening for Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante. In Study 1 Haitian key informants were asked to classify symptoms and describe categories within a pool of symptoms of common mental disorders. Study 2 tested the symptom set that best approximated depression in a sample of depressed and not depressed Haitians in order to select items for the screening tool. The resulting 13-item instrument produced scores with high internal reliability that were sensitive to culturally informed diagnoses, and interpretations with construct and concurrent validity (vis-à-vis functional impairment). Discussion focuses on the appropriate use of this tool and integrating emic perspectives into developing psychological assessments globally. The screening tool is provided as an Appendix.