Understanding and Assessing Construct Validity of the Social Provisions Scale: Implications for Youth Development

Authors

  • Sarah Osmane Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education; The Pennsylvania State University
  • Mark Brennan Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education; The Pennsylvania State University
  • Patrick Dolan Department of Political Science and Sociology; National University of Ireland, Galway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2021.925

Keywords:

social support, youth, confirmatory factor analysis, youth development

Abstract

Confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling was used to measure the construct validity of the increasingly utilized social provisions scale. This scale was used to measure social support sources and types among a sample of 421 youth from 4 Pennsylvania schools. The youth were surveyed to determine their levels of social support and the relationship of social support to community and youth development capacities. Research findings indicated an acceptable model fit indices for the sources of the social support model. A lower fit for the types of social support was found. Overall, the analysis further verified the reliability and validity of the social provisions scale. With this information, youth practitioners can better measure and assess social support and use the social provisions scale to tailor youth development programs to individual and group needs.

Author Biographies

Sarah Osmane, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education; The Pennsylvania State University

Sarah Osmane is a recent PhD graduate from the Pennsylvania state University in Agricultural and Extension Education and International Agriculture and Development (Dual Title). Dr. Sarah was a UNESCO Chair research fellow and a graduate assistant at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research focus was on youth leadership and community development. Her dissertation study is entitled “Community Leadership Development: Youth Leadership Development in High Schools with Agriculture Programs in Pennsylvania”.

 Dr. Sarah also holds a Bachelors and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Sciences from the Lebanese University. She was involved in teaching, research and writing related to consumer sciences, youth leadership and community development. Additionally, Dr Sarah was involved in several research projects in the United States, Lebanon, and Italy. Currently Dr. Sarah works in the humanitarian sector in the monitoring and evaluation department at the Norwegian Refugee Council in Lebanon and is a Part-Time lecturer at the American University of Beirut.

Mark Brennan, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education; The Pennsylvania State University

Mark Brennan, Ph.D. is the UNESCO Chair for Community, Leadership, and Youth Development and Professor of Leadership and Community Development at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Brennan’s teaching, research, writing, and program development concentrate on the role of civic engagement, natural resource management, community, and leadership development in the youth, community, and rural development process. His work has also increasingly focused on the role of youth as active contributors to peace building, social justice, and functioning societies.

Dr. Brennan has over 25 years of experience in designing, conducting, and analysing social science research related to community and youth development. This work has involved extensive comparative research throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America. He is co-founder of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Children, Youth, and Community.

Dr. Brennan’s research and program development has been funded by a variety of governments, foundations, and private sources and resulting in over 150 publications in leading peer-reviewed journals, books, and outreach publications, and nearly 200 invitations to presentations at professional meetings, government agencies, and international organizations. All research outputs have been translated into teaching and outreach curriculum to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to a wider international audience.  Included are over twenty outreach curriculum designed for communities and youth to use in fostering community capacity building, local collective capacity enhancement, and peaceful social settings throughout the UN system.  His recent books include Theory, Practice, and Community Development (2013) and Community Leadership Development:  A Compendium of Theory, Research, and Application (2013).

Patrick Dolan, Department of Political Science and Sociology; National University of Ireland, Galway

Prof. Dolan is joint founder and Director of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre and an Academic Director of the M.A. in Family Support Studies. He also contributes to the wider undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes of the School of Political Science and Sociology as well as supervising Ph.D. candidates and Masters Dissertations in Family Support, Social Work and Community Development.

Professor Pat Dolan holds the prestigious UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement, the first to be awarded in the Republic of Ireland. The UNESCO Chair delivers a comprehensive programme of work towards the objective of promoting civic engagement and leadership skills among children and youth. The programme is built around core strands of research, teaching, policy and good practice and is underpinned by a range of national and international collaborations.

Prof. Dolan has worked with and for families as a practitioner, service manager, and academic for over 20 years. He has completed an extensive body of research on family issues including longitudinal research on adolescents, their perceived mental health, resilience and social support networks and has published in a wide range of academic publications. His major research interests are Civic Engagement in Children and Youth, Family Support, Reflective Practice and Service Development, Youth Mentoring Models, Adolescents Resilience and Social Networks. Prof. Dolan has also an extensive policy experience and was recently a member of a Government Task Force advising on the necessary transition programme for the new Child and Family Support Agency.

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Published

2021-09-29

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 4 (2021)

Section

Research & Evaluation Studies

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