Adolescent Strengths Use Scale

Abstract

The Adolescent Strengths Use Scale (ASUS) is a specialized psychometric instrument developed by Demir, Murat, and Arslan (2024) to measure the extent to which adolescents utilize their personal strengths specifically within the school environment. The scale development followed a rigorous process, commencing with an extensive literature review and expert consultation, which initially generated 12 potential items.

Following expert item analysis, five items were removed, resulting in the final seven-item scale. Psychometric evaluation supported the scale’s structure and reliability. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) indicated a clear single-factor structure, which was subsequently confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), demonstrating a strong model fit. The ASUS successfully established robust internal consistency and significant criterion validity, affirming its utility as a reliable measure for assessing strength use among adolescents, particularly those in Turkey.

Keywords

Adolescents, Character Strengths, School-Based Strengths, Developmental Measures, Educational Measures, Personality, Student Characteristics, Strength Use.

Authors

Demir, Ramazan, Murat, Mehmet, Arslan, Gökmen.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Adolescent Strengths Use Scale is to quantitatively assess the frequency and effectiveness of adolescents’ strength utilization across academic, social, and personal domains relevant to the school setting. By focusing on school-based strength use, the scale offers a targeted measure of how students apply their positive traits to navigate the challenges and opportunities inherent in their educational lives.

This measurement tool is crucial for researchers and educational psychologists aiming to evaluate the efficacy of interventions designed to promote positive youth development. Higher scores on the ASUS reflect a greater and more effective application of personal strengths, suggesting better coping mechanisms and engagement within the school environment.

Construct

The scale measures the psychological construct of Adolescent School-Based Strengths Use. This construct is defined as the active and intentional deployment of an individual’s inherent strengths, abilities, or positive character traits to achieve goals, solve problems, maintain positive relationships, and generally succeed within their academic context.

This focus is distinct from general personality measures as it specifically examines the behavioral expression of strengths in a functional, school-related manner. The successful use of strengths is theoretically linked to positive adjustment outcomes, such as enhanced subjective well-being and increased prosocial behavior among students.

Validity

The validity of the ASUS was primarily established through evidence of Criterion Validity. This approach assessed the relationship between the scale scores and other relevant behavioral and psychological indicators.

The findings demonstrated that ASUS scores showed significant positive correlations with desirable outcomes, specifically student subjective well-being and prosociality. Crucially, the scores also exhibited the anticipated negative correlations with indicators of maladjustment, including both internalizing behaviors (such as anxiety or depression) and externalizing behaviors (such as disruptive conduct), confirming that the scale accurately measures a construct related to positive adaptation.

Reliability

The Adolescent Strengths Use Scale demonstrated excellent psychometric reliability across measures of internal consistency and temporal stability. Internal consistency was confirmed by several high coefficients: a Cronbach Alpha of 0.82, Latent Construct Reliability of 0.88, and an Omega coefficient of 0.83. These results confirm that the seven items are highly intercorrelated and reliably measure the same underlying trait.

Furthermore, the scale exhibited strong Test-Retest Reliability, indicating stability over time. The correlation coefficient for repeated measures was r = 0.88 (p < 0.01), suggesting that the scale provides consistent scores when administered to the same individuals across different measurement points.

Factor Analysis

The underlying structure of the ASUS was rigorously tested using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The EFA results strongly supported a Single Factor Structure, meaning the seven items converge onto one dimension of strength use, explaining 49.4% of the total variance.

The CFA subsequently confirmed that this unidimensional model provided a strong fit for the empirical data. Key fit indices included χ2/df = 2.52, p < .001, TLI = 0.96, CFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.97, and RMSEA = 0.06. These indices collectively indicate that the theoretical single-factor model aligns well with the observed relationships among the scale items.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Rating Scale

Format: The instrument consists of 7 items scored on a 5-point Likert scale. The response options range from 1 (Very Poor) to 5 (Very Good). Higher cumulative scores reflect a higher level of strength use in school settings.

Language Available: Turkish (Original validation language) and English (Language presented in the published source).

Population Group: Human (Male and Female).

Age Group: Primarily targets Adolescence (13-17 years), though the population details suggest applicability to older students (Adulthood, 18 years & older; Young Adulthood, 18-29 years).

Population Details: The scale was developed and validated using a sample of students in Grades 7–12 located in Turkey.

Test Methodology: Psychometric validation included Test Validity, Criterion Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Educational Measures, Adolescent Development, School Environment, Personality Assessment, Student Characteristics, Rating Scale, Turkey, Positive Psychology.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Arslan, Gökmen: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9427-1554

Affiliation Email addresses: Demir, Ramazan: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Authors are affiliated with Turkish universities: Ramazan Demir and Mehmet Murat are associated with Gaziantep University, and Gökmen Arslan is associated with Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Adolescent Strengths Use Scale (ASUS) is classified as non-commercial, and there is no associated fee for its use in research or academic settings. The scale was formally developed and published in 2024.

Reference’s

Demir, R., Murat, M., & Arslan, G. (2024). Development of Adolescent Strengths Use Scale for Turkish adolescents. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 41(1), 50–57. The primary source for the scale development can be accessed via the following DOI: 10.1080/20590776.2023.2284167.

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Items of the Adolescent Strengths Use Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The 7-item scale asks respondents to rate how effectively they use their strengths in the specified context.

Response Format:

• 1 = Very Poor

• 2 = Poor

• 3 = Fair

• 4 = Good

• 5 = Very Good