Development and Validation of the Social Emotional Health Survey–Higher Education Version

Abstract

We report on the development of the Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education (SEHS-HE), a multidimensional measure of covitality (the combinatorial effects of multiple positive psychological constructs). Scale development was carried out over 18 months involving five phases: conceptual grounding and item pool generation; cognitive interviews and item refinement; pilot survey and item reduction; structural validation survey and analyses; and, validity and stability analyses. Starting with a pool of 72 items, item selection and reduction was carried out using a sample of 771 college students. A second sample of 1,413 students (63.5 % female, mean age 20.0 years) completed the refined 48-item measure. Confirmatory factor analyses found acceptable fit for the SEHS-HE higher-order covitality latent structure. A final set of 36 items consisted of four latent traits (each comprised of three measured subscales): belief-in-self (subscales: self-efficacy, persistence, self-awareness), belief-in-others (subscales: family support, institutional support, peer support), emotional competence (subscales: cognitive reappraisal, empathy, self-regulation), and engaged living (subscales: gratitude, zest, optimism). Complete invariance was found for males and females with small effect size differences on latent mean scores. Evidence supported the SEHS-HE total score’s concurrent and predictive validity for students’ subjective well-being (r = .72, r = .65, respectively) and psychological distress (r = −.56, r = −.45, respectively). The 4-month stability coefficient for the SEHS-HE total score was .82, indicating it measures trait-like psychological constructs. The discussion focuses on the uses of the SEHS-HE in support of mental health programs, and refinement of the conceptual understanding of the covitality construct.