The Youth Relatedness Scale: Development of a New Evaluation Tool for Youth Programs

Authors

  • Melissa H. D'Eloia California State University – Long Beach
  • Jim Sibthorp University of Utah

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2012.142

Abstract

This paper examines a study to develop a reliable measure of relatedness that utilizes language appropriate for youth, is simple for staff to administer in a field-based setting, and is consistent with the Youth Outcomes Battery. Pilot instruments were distributed to three residential summer camps serving female and male campers between the ages 10-17. The results of this study indicate that the Youth Relatedness Scale is an easy-to-use measure that exhibits good evidence of internal consistency and shows good criterion evidence of validity for this population of youth. This study was a positive step towards providing a theoretically grounded, simple, and versatile measure that captures youth perceptions of relatedness and that youth program administrators can employ to evaluate their programs.

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Published

2012-06-01

Issue

Section

Research & Evaluation Studies