Abstract
In 5 of the 6 large Dutch developmental cohorts investigated here, lower SES adolescents are underrepresented and higher SES adolescents overrepresented. With former studies clearly revealing differences between SES strata in adolescent social competence and behavioral control, this misrepresentation may contribute to an overestimation of normative adolescent competence. Using a raking procedure, we used national census statistics to weigh the cohorts to be more representative of the Dutch population. Contrary to our expectations, in all cohorts, little to no differences between SES strata were found in the two outcomes. Accordingly, no differences between weighted and unweighted mean scores were observed across all cohorts. Furthermore, no clear change in correlations between social competence and behavioral control was found. These findings are most probably explained by the fact that measures of SES in the samples were quite limited, and the low SES participants in the cohorts could not be considered as representative of the low SES groups in the general population. Developmental outcomes associated with SES may be affected by a raking procedure in other cohorts that have a sufficient number and sufficient variation of low SES adolescents.
Highlights
Cohort studies generally aim at selecting a sample that is representative for the whole population, vulnerable groups in our soci ety are less often part of these cohort studies (Jang and Vorderstrasse, 2019; Svensson et al, 2012; Walter et al, 2013)
We investigate whether estimates of social competence and behavioral control in adolescents from 6 Dutch devel opmental cohorts differs between the unweighted samples and their weighted samples that are more socioeconomically representative of the general Dutch population
In L-Consortium on In dividual Development (CID), Research on Adolescent Development And Re lationships (RADAR), and Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), we proposed to measure behavioral control using the BAS-Drive subscale from the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) questionnaire (BAS-D; Carver and White, 1994)
Summary
Cohort studies generally aim at selecting a sample that is representative for the whole population, vulnerable groups in our soci ety are less often part of these cohort studies (Jang and Vorderstrasse, 2019; Svensson et al, 2012; Walter et al, 2013). An important question that follows is whether findings from such samples reflect the psychosocial development of the whole population or of a subsample of our society (Arnett, 2008; Boudewijns et al, 2019; Henrich et al, 2010; LeWinn et al, 2017). One way to answer this question is to estimate to what extent the unweighted results of such samples diverge from the results when samples are weighed with respect to SES. We investigate whether estimates of social competence and behavioral control in adolescents from 6 Dutch devel opmental cohorts differs between the unweighted samples and their weighted samples that are more socioeconomically representative of the general Dutch population.
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