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Caring Adult - Subject Follow-up

This measure appears in the following time-points: Follow06, Follow12, Follow18, Follow24, Follow30, Follow36, Follow48, Follow60, Follow72, Follow84.

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Related Construct

Description of Measure

The Contact with Caring Adults inventory was derived from several sources for this study (Nakkula, et al., 1990; Phillips and Springer, 1992; Institute of Behavioral Science, 1990). It assesses the type and range of supportive adults in the adolescent's life. This support is assessed across eight domains: adults you admire and want to be like, adults you could talk to if you needed information or advice about something, adults you could talk to about trouble at home, adults you would tell about an award or if you did something well, adults with whom you can talk about important decisions, adults you can depend on for help, adults you feel comfortable talking about problems with, and special adults who care about your feelings. This measure asks youth to identify the total number of adults who are supportive in each domain as well as to nominate the person that they are most likely to turn to within each domain. These endorsements are summarized across the eight different domains in three ways - the total domains with a person named, the diversity of the individuals named across the domains, and the depth of the pool of individuals named across the domains. The first of the dimensions calculated, Domains of Social Support, provides the number of different domains for which at least one caring adult is present. Diversity of Caring Adults, the second dimension of social support, identifies the unique individuals mentioned across all eight domains. Diversity of Caring Adults is further refined by also calculating the number of caring adults mentioned in the particular domain in which the youth identifies the highest number of caring adults (Maximum Diversity Within Domains). Finally, the Depth of Social Support assesses the number of caring adults who are mentioned in more than two domains, and further distinguishes between sources of support that are familial versus non-familial.

A one-factor confirmatory factor analysis model was fit to the eight items making up the calculation of the domains of social support score (with the items declared categorical). The values from this analysis at the baseline time-point are as follows: alpha: .78; NFI: .98; NNFI: .99; CFI: .99; RMSEA: .04. This scale was also found to have good internal consistency at the follow-up interviews (6 month alpha = .84; 12 month alpha = .87; 18 month alpha = .89; 24 month alpha = .90).

Several scores are available:

Higher scores indicate a greater number of relationships with adults who spend time with the adolescent and provide support.

Data Issues

Some cases are missing data for this measure as a result of data cleaning changes done in order to correct an interviewer mistake. Cases with this issue are noted with a missing value code of -800.

References