Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 18, 2025

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Development of a psychological empowerment measure for youth in rural Guatemala
Michael Bakal1, Maureen Lahiff1, Julianna Deardorff1
1Maternal and Child Health Program, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, #5302 University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA.
Abstract:
Psychological empowerment (PE) is conceptualized as a context-dependent construct, yet few have studied its applicability to youth in international settings. The current study used a participatory approach to design a measure of empowerment for youth from a rural, Indigenous community in Guatemala and aimed to compare this new measure to extant measures. Youth co-researchers (aged 19-22) collaborated in the development of four culturally relevant empowerment scales through a formative process involving classroom observations and focus groups. Newly developed scales and two widely used, extant scales were administered to a school-based sample of 273 youth (mean age = 14.7, SD = 1.6). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) showed that one of the newly developed PE scales called Self-Efficacy for Community Action (SECA), which was moderately correlated with the extant scales, appeared to more effectively capture empowerment in the local context than the extant measures. These results support the notion that PE is contextually dependent and suggest that youth participation may aid in instrument design.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Self-Efficacy
Sources of Self-Esteem II: Performance Feedback
Sources of Self-Esteem I: Family Experience

