title: Measuring inappropriate responses of adolescents to problematic social situations in secure institutional and correctional youth care: a validation study of the TOPS-A.
abstract: The present study examined the construct, concurrent and divergent validity, and reliability of the "Taxonomy of Problematic Social Situations-Adolescent self-report version" (TOPS-A) in a sample of 128 adolescents placed in Dutch secure juvenile facilities. The instrument measures inappropriate responses of adolescents to problematic social situations at the living group. Confirmatory factor analysis of a four-factor model (inappropriate responses to situations of disadvantage, competition, accepting/giving help, and accepting authority) with a second-order factor (inappropriate responses to problematic social situations) showed an exact fit to the data, indicating construct validity of the TOPS-A. Evidence for concurrent validity was found in associations with aggression and living group climate. Divergent validity could not be reliably assessed. Cronbach's α reliability coefficients were satisfactory. The TOPS-A is a parsimonious instrument that can be used to assess and target inappropriate responses to problematic social situations in (delinquent) adolescents in secure institutional and correctional youth care.
authors.affiliation: Professional University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands. helm.vd.p@hsleiden.nl
authors.forename: G H P
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: van der Helm
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Matthys
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Moonen
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Giesen
authors.forename: Es
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van Der Heide
authors.forename: G J J M
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Stams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*