Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S): A Universal Screening Measure of Social-Emotional Strengths for Spanish-Speaking Adolescents.

Michael J. Furlong,Maria Rivera-Riquelme,Jose A. Piqueras,Raquel Falco,Agustin E. Martinez-Gonzalez,Juan Carlos Marzo,Tiscar Rodriguez-Jimenez

doi:10.3390/ijerph16244982

Abstract

The Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S), which is a measure of core psychological assets based on a higher-order model of Covitality, is comprised of 36 items and four latent traits (with three measured subscales): belief in self (self-efficacy, self-awareness, and persistence), belief in others (school support, family coherence, and peer support), emotional competence (emotional regulation, behavioral self-control, and empathy), and engaged living (gratitude, zest, and optimism). Previous international studies have supported the psychometric properties of the SEHS-S. The present study extended this research by examining the psychometric properties of a Spanish-language adaptation with a sample of 1042 Spanish adolescents (Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.65.). Confirmatory factor analyses replicated the original factorial structure, with hierarchical omega between 0.66–0.93, with 0.94 for the total score. Factorial invariance across genders revealed small latent mean differences. A path model evaluated concurrent validity, which revealed a significant association between Covitality and bidimensional mental health (psychological distress and well-being). Specifically, correlational analyses showed a negative association with internalizing/externalizing symptoms, and positive associations with subjective well-being, health-related quality of life, and prosocial behaviors. This study provides an example of a culturally relevant adaptation of an international tool to measure student strengths, which is critical to planning school programming and policy.

Highlights

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that mental health is not merely the absence of psychological symptoms, but mental health encompasses holistic mental and social well-being [1].This contrasts with traditional clinical research that has focused on diagnosing the presence or absence of mental disorders [2], and which has given relatively less attention to indicators of positive mentalInt
We focus on the Social Emotional Health Survey–Secondary (SEHS–S) [15], which is appropriate for using with adolescents ages 12 to 18 years old
According to the methodology proposed by Cheung and Rensvold [46], we reported Comparative Fit Index (CFI), ∆CFI, Gamma hat, ∆Gamma Hat, McDonald’s Non-Centrality Index (NCI), and ∆McDonald’s NCI

Summary

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that mental health is not merely the absence of psychological symptoms, but mental health encompasses holistic mental and social well-being [1].This contrasts with traditional clinical research that has focused on diagnosing the presence or absence of mental disorders [2], and which has given relatively less attention to indicators of positive mentalInt. Public Health 2019, 16, 4982; doi:10.3390/ijerph16244982 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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