Validation of the Perkins Adolescent Risk Screen (PARS).
OBJECTIVE
To examine the initial psychometric properties for the PARS, a brief interview used to screen for 16 items of adolescent risk and protective factors.


METHODS
Participants included 193 adolescents, attending public middle and high schools or a university-based Adolescent Clinic. Participants completed a PARS interview, as well as a battery of questionnaires. Approximately 31% of participants received a second PARS interview from an independent rater to assess inter-rater consistency.


RESULTS
Descriptive statistics revealed that participants, on average, were rated as low to moderate risk for health-related difficulties across all PARS items. Descriptive statistics also showed important risk patterns in this sample of adolescents (e.g., 1/5 of sample not exercising at all). Factor analysis yielded a total of five factors (Risk Factors, Protection Factors, Relationships/Mood, Motivation Issues, Weight Issues), accounting for 58% of the variance in PARS item scores. Satisfactory levels of internal consistency and inter-rater agreement for the PARS score were found. Convergent and divergent validity of PARS scores were supported by correlations obtained with similar and dissimilar measures, respectively. A significant age group difference was obtained in the total PARS score, with adolescents aged 17-19 years obtaining higher scores than did adolescents aged 14-16 years. No significant gender differences were found.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results support the initial psychometric properties (i.e., reliability, validity) of the PARS as a measure of health risk and protective factors in adolescents. The PARS is a brief, efficient means of obtaining important health risk information from adolescents throughout periodic routine health care visits.
Adams
Christina D
CD
Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
Perkins
Kathaleen C
KC
Lumley
Vicki
V
Hughes
Christine
C
Burns
James J
JJ
Omar
Hatim A
HA
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*