A Multicultural Assessment of Adolescent Connectedness: Testing Measurement Invariance across Gender and Ethnicity

Autor/inn/en	Karcher, Michael J.; Sass, Daniel
Titel	A Multicultural Assessment of Adolescent Connectedness: Testing Measurement Invariance across Gender and Ethnicity
Quelle	In: Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57 (2010) 3, S.274-289 (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-0167
DOI	10.1037/a0019357
Schlagwörter	African Americans; Neighborhoods; Ethnicity; Race; Siblings; Evaluators; Intervention; Psychologists; Adolescents; Gender Differences; Error of Measurement; Program Effectiveness; Factor Structure; Measures (Individuals); Whites; Hispanic Americans; Youth Programs; Student School Relationship; Middle School Students + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Afroamerikaner; Neighbourhoods; Nachbarschaft; Ethnizität; Rasse; Abstammung; Sibling; Geschwister; Psychologist; Psychologe; Psychologin; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Geschlechterkonflikt; Messfehler; Faktorenstruktur; Messdaten; White; Weißer; Hispanic; Hispanoamerikaner; Jugendsofortprogramm; Schüler-Lehrer-Beziehung; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin
Abstract	Counselors, psychologists, and evaluators of intervention programs for youth increasingly view the promotion of connectedness as an important intervention outcome. When evaluating these programs, researchers frequently test whether the treatment effects differ across gender and ethnic or racial groups. Doing so necessitates the availability of culturally and gender-invariant measures. We used the Hemingway: Measure of Adolescent Connectedness to estimate the factor structure invariance and equality of means across gender and 3 racial/ethnic groups with a large sample of middle school adolescents. From a practical perspective, the 10-scale model suggested factor structure invariance across gender and racial or ethnic (i.e., African American, Caucasian, and Latina/o) groups of adolescents. However, tests for partial invariance revealed some group difference on the factor loadings and intercepts between gender and ethnic/racial groups. When testing for mean equivalence, girls reported higher connectedness to friends, siblings, school, peers, teachers, and reading but lower connectedness to their neighborhoods. Caucasians reported higher connectedness to their neighborhoods and friends but lower connectedness to siblings than African Americans and Latinos. African Americans reported the highest connectedness to self (present and future) but lowest connectedness to teachers. Latinos reported the lowest connectedness to reading, self-in-the-present, and self-in-the-future. Overall, this study reveals racial/ethnic and gender mean differences on several connectedness subscales and suggests the Hemingway subscales are, from a practical perspective, invariant across gender and ethnicity and therefore appropriate for most assessment and evaluation purposes. (Contains 2 footnotes, 7 tables, and 2 figures.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10