Psychometric assessment of the Persian translation of the Social and Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S) with female adolescents

Abstract

The Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S) is a self-report measure comprised of four domains (belief in self, belief in others, emotional competence, and engaged living) developed to evaluate mental health in adolescents in the Western hemisphere. To date, the psychometric properties of the SEHS-S measure have not been tested among Iranian adolescents. The objective of the present study was to translate the SEHS-S measure from English into Persian and explore its psychometric properties with a sample of 373 female high-school students (Grades 11 and 12). Findings of face, content, and construct validity tests demonstrated that the SEHS-S measure had satisfactory validity and suitable reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable goodness-of-fit indices and supported the four domains of the SEHS-S measure in the present sample. Correlations between the four domains of the SEHS-S and the Examination Stress Scale, the EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-Being, the Aggression Scale, and the Hope Scale provided convergent and divergent validity for the four domains of the SEHS-S scale. The results of the analysis revealed that the SEHS-S measure has appropriate psychometric properties for assessing mental health in female high-school students.