Preliminary development of a multidimensional positive youth development scale for young rural and urban adolescents in China

Abstract

This study examined the dimensionality, reliability, and validity of a Chinese version of the 5- C Model of positive youth development (PYD), originally developed in the U.S., with a sample of rural and urban young adolescents in China. The Cs represent five youth strengths: Competence, confidence, character, caring, and connection. The results of the exploratory factor analyses showed a reasonable data fit with the 5-C Model. The total and subscale scores evinced good internal reliability (α = .7 to .9) and the confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the convergence of the five Cs on a second-order latent factor of PYD, showing adequate goodness of fit (CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.04). Metric and scalar invariance were found across gender. Metric and partial scalar invariance were found for ruralurban groups. Supportive evidence on convergent and discriminatory validity was also found. We conclude that the Chinese version of the 5-C PYD Scale is a reliable and valid instrument, with good construct validity for Chinese young adolescents.