Page 23 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 23
positive youth development and thriving in norwegian youth
earlier studies, for example, Scales et al., 2000) we examined the indicators
as a composite variable reflecting the number of thriving indicators report-
ed by the participants. The low Cronbach’s alpha is addressed as a limita-
tion in the discussion section.
Demographics. As demographic variables, the participants were asked
to provide information about their age, gender (male or female), and par-
ents’ educational level (i.e. no education, primary school, high school, tech-
nical or vocational school, and university).
Procedure
The data were collected in 2015. Informed consent was sought from and
given by both the school and the participants, where they were informed
of the study’s purpose and procedures. The data collection was conducted
during school hours and lasted around 40 minutes. The response rate was
70%. Participants had access to the questionnaire through the internal on-
line system at the school. The questionnaire was translated from English
to Norwegian by Semantix Translations Norway AS, a company specialis-
ing in interpretation and translation services. The study was approved by
the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK)
in Norway.
Data Analyses
The data analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS version 25). We performed a cross-tabulation analy-
sis to look at the frequency distribution of thriving according to the demo-
graphic variables. Correlation analysis was carried out to examine the ze-
ro-order correlations between the demographics, developmental assets and
thriving. Finally, a regression analysis was conducted to assess the influ-
ence of the developmental asset categories on thriving, while controlling
for the demographic variables.
Eight composite variables that reflected the number of reported devel-
opmental assets for the four internal and the four external asset categories
were created and used in the analysis. Response alternatives on a 4-point
Likert scale for the assets were recoded to create these composite varia-
bles. The response alternatives (1) Never or rarely and (2) Occasionally or
Sometimes were recoded as developmental assets absent (1), while (3) Often
and (4) Almost always or Very often were recoded as developmental assets
present (2). This recoding was undertaken to assess the extent to which
23
earlier studies, for example, Scales et al., 2000) we examined the indicators
as a composite variable reflecting the number of thriving indicators report-
ed by the participants. The low Cronbach’s alpha is addressed as a limita-
tion in the discussion section.
Demographics. As demographic variables, the participants were asked
to provide information about their age, gender (male or female), and par-
ents’ educational level (i.e. no education, primary school, high school, tech-
nical or vocational school, and university).
Procedure
The data were collected in 2015. Informed consent was sought from and
given by both the school and the participants, where they were informed
of the study’s purpose and procedures. The data collection was conducted
during school hours and lasted around 40 minutes. The response rate was
70%. Participants had access to the questionnaire through the internal on-
line system at the school. The questionnaire was translated from English
to Norwegian by Semantix Translations Norway AS, a company specialis-
ing in interpretation and translation services. The study was approved by
the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK)
in Norway.
Data Analyses
The data analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS version 25). We performed a cross-tabulation analy-
sis to look at the frequency distribution of thriving according to the demo-
graphic variables. Correlation analysis was carried out to examine the ze-
ro-order correlations between the demographics, developmental assets and
thriving. Finally, a regression analysis was conducted to assess the influ-
ence of the developmental asset categories on thriving, while controlling
for the demographic variables.
Eight composite variables that reflected the number of reported devel-
opmental assets for the four internal and the four external asset categories
were created and used in the analysis. Response alternatives on a 4-point
Likert scale for the assets were recoded to create these composite varia-
bles. The response alternatives (1) Never or rarely and (2) Occasionally or
Sometimes were recoded as developmental assets absent (1), while (3) Often
and (4) Almost always or Very often were recoded as developmental assets
present (2). This recoding was undertaken to assess the extent to which
23
