Development and validation of a social capital questionnaire for adolescent students (SCQ-AS)

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 8; p. e103785
• Main Authors: Paiva, Paula Cristina Pelli, de Paiva, Haroldo Neves, de Oliveira Filho, Paulo Messias, Lamounier, Joel Alves, Ferreira e Ferreira, Efigênia, Ferreira, Raquel Conceição, Kawachi, Ichiro, Zarzar, Patrícia Maria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 05.08.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Development; Adult; Adults; Behavior; Brazil; Child; Coefficients; Cohesion; Community; Consistency; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dentistry; Elementary schools; Epidemiology; Factor analysis; Female; Focus Groups; Humans; Literature reviews; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Neighborhoods; Oral hygiene; Population; Psychometrics - methods; Public health; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reliability analysis; Reproducibility; Reproducibility of Results; Research and Analysis Methods; Schools; Social Capital; Social networks; Social Sciences; Students; Students - psychology; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; Trust; Brazil; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103785

Social capital has been studied due to its contextual influence on health. However, no specific assessment tool has been developed and validated for the measurement of social capital among 12-year-old adolescent students. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a quick, simple assessment tool to measure social capital among adolescent students. A questionnaire was developed based on a review of relevant literature. For such, searches were made of the Scientific Electronic Library Online, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences, The Cochrane Library, ISI Web of Knowledge, International Database for Medical Literature and PubMed Central bibliographical databases from September 2011 to January 2014 for papers addressing assessment tools for the evaluation of social capital. Focus groups were also formed by adolescent students as well as health, educational and social professionals. The final assessment tool was administered to a convenience sample from two public schools (79 students) and one private school (22 students), comprising a final sample of 101 students. Reliability and internal consistency were evaluated using the Kappa coefficient and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, respectively. Content validity was determined by expert consensus as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The final version of the questionnaire was made up of 12 items. The total scale demonstrated very good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.71). Reproducibility was also very good, as the Kappa coefficient was higher than 0.72 for the majority of items (range: 0.63 to 0.97). Factor analysis grouped the 12 items into four subscales: School Social Cohesion, School Friendships, Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Trust (school and neighborhood). The present findings indicate the validity and reliability of the Social Capital Questionnaire for Adolescent Students.