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Mental health research is increasingly emphasizing the presence of positive mental health beyond the assessment and treatment of mental illness. The concept of flourishing has emerged as a key indicator of the ultimate health and well-being across multiple domains. The knowledge of youth flourishing is crucial to promoting the mental health of all youths beyond those with mental illness. Despite the growing interest in youth flourishing, limited studies examined flourishing among disadvantaged youth such as those who are aging out of foster care. Moreover, a limited number of validated measures exist that can accurately measure flourishing for marginalized youth of different demographics. This paper presents the results from the Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses and measurement invariance testing of the adolescent version of the Flourishing Index (FI) using the data collected from youth aging out of foster care who participated in the Flourishing After Foster Care study.
Methods. Youth flourishing data were collected through a national survey of 379 transitional youth aged 18 to 24 who were aging out of foster care. Descriptive analyses, correlation analyses, and reliability checks (Cronbach's alpha) were conducted. Factor analyses were performed using the Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation method in Mplus version 8.11. Additionally, measurement invariance was examined between youth of different genders [male (n=256) vs female (n=89)], race [White (n=272) vs Black (n=83)], and sexual orientation [heterosexual (n=282) vs sexual minority (n=92)] through the configural, metric (loadings set to equality), and scalar (intercepts set to equality) models.
Results.
The results from the FAs supported a one-dimensional model with 10 items, which demonstrated an excellent fit (CFI=0.985, TLI=0.980, RMSEA=0.054, SRMR=0.021) with all factor loadings ranging between 0.735 and 0.807. Scalar invariance was supported across gender and sexual orientation, not but based on race, demonstrating a significant change in 𝝌2 between metric and scalar models (p = 0.008). Partial invariance was supported based on race with the exclusion to one item related to delayed gratification.
Conclusion.
This study provides evidence supporting the structural validity and invariance of the adolescent version of the FI based on gender and sexual orientation. The non-invariance based on race suggests that youth of color and White youth may interpret the concept of delayed gratification differently, potentially due to the structural inequities faced by youth of color. The results highlight the importance of developing culturally relevant measures that better capture the diverse manifestations of flourishing among marginalized youth. Future research should build upon these findings to further explore flourishing indicators for youths across different identities.