Development of a Japanese version of the social emotional health survey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a Japanese version of the Social Emotional Health Survey, which measures multiple positive aspects of secondary school students, and to examine the scale's reliability and validity. In study 1, 3,044 high school students were asked to complete the questionnaire. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the theoretical model comprising 12 measured indicators that form four domains (belief-in-self, belief-in-others, emotional competence, and engaged living) that, in turn, contribute to one underlying meta-construct called “covitality”. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that students with a high covitality score had significantly higher scores for school connectedness and life satisfaction, and a significantly lower score for psychological distress, showing sufficient concurrent validity of the scale. In study 2, 106 students were asked to complete the questionnaires to examine the scale's test-retest reliability and concurrent validity using related Japanese scales. The results showed that the scale has sufficient test-retest reliability and concurrent validity with the other Japanese scales.