Mental Health Problems Scale for Adolescents- Parent Report: Development and Preliminary Technical Properties

Abstract

This research aimed to develop a scale for adolescent psychological health problems (APHP). The population consisted of parents of high school pupils in six provinces in 2016: Alborz, Kermanshah, East Azarbaijan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Fars, and Razavi Khorasan. For each province, two cities (the provincial center and a low-income city) were selected on purpose. The selection of six institutions in each city was based on a random sampling method, and the selection of parents was based on available sampling. There were 308 parents in the sample, including 195 mothers and 111 fathers. After the data were collected, they were input into the 18th version of the statistical software for social sciences (SPSS). 133 items were examined for their adequacy using seven indicators (mean, standard deviation, standard skew, standard kurtosis, deletion alpha coefficient, multiple correlation, and correlation coefficient with total score) during item analysis. The item analysis revealed that the majority of objects possessed appropriate properties. Exploratory factor analysis of the coefficient revealed six factors that explain 42% of the variance. Internal homogeneity coefficients for the subscales ranged from 0.78 (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to 0.95 (deficit in assignments and self-control) and 0.95 for the full scale. The results indicated that the preliminary version of the instrument has adequate psychometric properties.

Keywords

• parent report
• psychological trauma
• psychological screening
• psychometric properties
• scale development