Promoting positive development among left-behind youth in rural China: A mixed-methods approach to scale development

Integrating both the positive youth development and resilience science frameworks, this study developed and validated an instrument for assessing the individual strengths and environmental supports that promote positive development for rural, left-behind youth (LBY) in China. Following an exploratory sequential design, we first conducted 22 in-depth interviews (13 teachers and nine LBY) to inform the creation of survey items. We then conducted exploratory factor analyses on a sample of 606 LBY (48.7% were male, M_age = 13.59 years), followed by confirmatory factor analyses and an assessment of reliability and criterion validity with a sample of 1076 LBY (43.3% were male, M_age = 13.08 years). The newly developed instrument contains two scales: the Individual Strengths (IS) scale that measures seven individual strengths, and the Environmental Supports (ES) scale that measures eight environmental supports. Both scales demonstrated good reliability and validity. This study expands our understanding of how to promote positive adjustment among rural LBY and yields an important research tool that policy makers, educational practitioners, and youth workers can use to inform practices and policies that promote healthy development among youth impacted by prolonged parental migration.