Premium
A Validation Study of the Youth Development Assessment Device
Author(s) -
Sabatelli Ronald M.,
Anderson Stephen A.,
Kosutic Iva,
Sanderson Jessica,
Rubinfeld Stacey
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2009.00558.x
Subject(s) - psychology , discriminant validity , confirmatory factor analysis , cronbach's alpha , exploratory factor analysis , positive youth development , test (biology) , convergent validity , applied psychology , test validity , psychometrics , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , internal consistency , structural equation modeling , statistics , paleontology , biology , mathematics
This article details the development of the Youth Development Assessment Device (YDAD), an instrument designed to measure a youth's experiences within youth development programs. A total of 1,074 adolescents, between 12 and 18 years of age, participated in the study. Exploratory factor analysis yielded three factors: Supportive Environment, Emotional Safety and Wellbeing, and Involvement and Challenge. Moderately high Cronbach's alphas indicated that scores from the YDAD subscales were internally consistent. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the fit of the model and to test convergent and discriminant validity of YDAD scores. The use of the instrument in process evaluations is described. Implications for future research are discussed.