Abstract
The Flourishing Children Project responds to a call for rigorous indicators of positive development in adolescents by creating scales for 19 constructs of positive development in the categories of flourishing in school and work, personal flourishing, flourishing in relationships, relationship skills, helping others to flourish, and environmental stewardship. Each scale can be used alone or in combination to fill gaps in available measures of important constructs of adolescent flourishing. In the final stage of the project, described in this chapter, the items chosen for each scale were tested in a pilot study based on a survey of a nationally representative sample to ensure that they were suited for administration in national surveys and possessed the desired psychometric properties. The web-based survey, conducted in conjunction with Knowledge Networks, yielded a sample of 1,951 adolescents and 2,240 parents, or 1,833 parent-adolescent dyads. To assess the psychometric properties of each scale, data from the pilot survey were analyzed for reliability (alpha), concurrent validity, skewness, differences among subgroups (e.g., age, gender, and income groups), and other characteristics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The data from the Flourishing Children Project are publicly available at http://www.childtrends.org/positiveindicators. We welcome any request to use the data for additional analyses.
References
Bollen, K. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York, NY: Wiley.
Carle, A. C., & Weech-Maldonado, R. (2012). Validly interpreting patients’ reports: Using bifactor and multidimensional models to determine whether surveys and scales measure one or more constructs. Medical Care, 50, S42–S48.
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3, 424–453.
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6, 1–55.
Little, R., & Rubin, D. B. (2002). Statistical analysis with missing data (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Wiley.
McDonald, R. P. (1999). Test theory: A unified treatment. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Muthén, B. (1984). A general structural equation model with dichotomous, ordered categorical, and continuous latent variable indicators. Psychometrika, 49, 115–132.
Muthén, B. O. (1989). Latent variable modeling in heterogeneous populations. Psychometrika, 54, 557–585.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2010). Mplus user’s guide (6th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
Reise, S. P., Ventura, J., Keefe, R. S. E., Baade, L. E., Gold, J. M., Green, M. F., et al. (2011). Bifactor and item response theory analyses of interviewer report scales of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Psychological Assessment, 23, 245–261.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lippman, L.H. et al. (2014). Pilot Study and Psychometric Analyses. In: Flourishing Children. SpringerBriefs in Well-Being and Quality of Life Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8607-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8607-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-8606-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-8607-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)