The Validity of a Community-Driven Youth Survey: Associations between Positive Youth Development Constructs and Mental Health, Academic, and Well-Being Outcomes

Background and Purpose: While many surveys exist to measure risk and protective factors associated with positive youth development (PYD), few have been developed through a community participatory research (CBPR) process that engages BIPOC youth. Engaging BIPOC youth in measurement development processes are important because the absence of their voices can lead to measurement tools that further marginalize them by centering whiteness and measuring constructs that might not relate to outcomes relevant to their cultural histories and experiences. As such, using a CBPR approach with youth development program leaders and BIPOC youth, we co-developed a youth survey that includes Racial and Ethnic Identity (REI), Social-Emotional Development (SED), and Program Environments (PE) as key PYD constructs. In this paper, we examine associations between these community developed PYD constructs with depression and anxiety symptoms, grades, and a new community-defined well-being measure.

Method: Participants were 535 young people from 41 programs who identified as 38% Black, 27% white, 22% Asian, 18% Latinx. The survey has evidence of construct validity and reliability. Youth outcomes include the GAD-2 and the PHQ-2, self-reported GPA (mostly As, mostly Bs, mostly C, or mostly Ds or Fs), and a community-developed measure of well-being with four items about safety, health, supportive adults and community connections. A series of models regressed each indicators’ (REI, SED, PE) subconstructs on each youth outcome, controlling for age, gender, and race and adjusting for the nesting of youth nested in programs using type=complex in Mplus.

Results: Positive racial identity (OR=.737, p<.001) and ethnic identity (OR=.816, p<.05), self-awareness (OR=.418, p<.001), mindsets (OR=.491, p<.001), and opportunities to explore racial and ethnic identity (OR=.719, p<.003) reduced the odds of meeting criteria for further diagnostic evaluation of major depressive disorder. Positive racial identity (OR=.71, p<.003), self-awareness (OR=.366, p<.001), and opportunities to explore racial and ethnic identity (OR=.752, p<.013) reduced the odds of meeting the criteria for further diagnostic evaluation of generalized anxiety disorder. Mindsets (β=-.293, p<.001), relationships (β=-.280, p<.001), community (β=-.256, p<.001), opportunities to explore racial and ethnic identity (β=-.256, p<.01), adult support and expectations (β= -.295, p<.001), and peer and adult relationships (β=-.243, p<.001) were significantly associated with the likelihood of getting better grades. All scales were associated with well-being.

Conclusion and Implications: Results suggest that the survey was valid for BIPOC youth. Positive REI was linked to better mental health, SED was linked to better grades, and all scales were associated with well-being. Decentering whiteness and building a survey in a community-engaged process led to a survey that captures important protective and promotive factors that make a difference in the lives of BIPOC youth.