Personality and Social Sciences Measuring social alienation in adolescence: Translation and validation of the Jessor and Jessor Social Alienation Scale JALAL SAFIPOUR, 1 MESFIN KASSAYE TESSMA, 2 GINA HIGGINBOTTOM 3 and AZITA EMAMI 1,4 1 Karolinska Institutet, Neurobiology, Care Science and Society, Stockholm, Sweden 2 Karolinska Institutet, Learning, Information, Management and Ethics, Medical Statistics Units, Stockholm, Sweden 3 University of Alberta, Faculty of Nursing, Alberta, Canada 4 Seattle University, College of Nursing, Seattle, WA, USA Safipour, J., Tessma, M. K., Higginbottom, G. & Emami, A. (2010). Measuring social alienation in adolescence: Translation and validation of the Jessor and Jessor Social Alienation Scale. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 517–524. The objective of the study is to translate and examine the reliability and validity of the Jessor and Jessor Social Alienation Scale for use in a Swedish con- text. The study involved four phases of testing: (1) Translation and back-translation; (2) a pilot test to evaluate the translation; (3) reliability testing; and (4) a validity test. Main participants of this study were 446 students (Age = 15–19, SD = 1.01, Mean = 17). Results from the reliability test showed high inter- nal consistency and stability. Face, content and construct validity were demonstrated using experts and confirmatory factor analysis. The results of testing the Swedish version of the alienation scale revealed an acceptable level of reliability and validity, and is appropriate for use in the Swedish context. Key words: Social alienation, reliability, translation, validation, adolescence, instrument. Jalal Safipour, Karolinska Institutet, Neurobiology, Care Science and Society, Alfred Nobels alle ´ 23 23 300, SE 141 83 Huddinge, Sweden. Tel: 0046 (0)8 524 83775; e-mail: jalal.safipour@ki.se INTRODUCTION Little empirical research has investigated the role of social alien- ation among adolescents in Sweden. This may be due, in part, to the unavailability of sound measurement instruments designed for use in this area. The present study is an attempt to provide a par- tial remedy for this problem by validating an instrument called the Jessor and Jessor scale of Social Alienation. The word ‘‘alien- ation’’ is from the Latin noun alienatio which means to ‘‘take away’’, ‘‘remove’’, or ‘‘cause a separation to occur’’, and was initially popularized in theological writings (Sarfraz, 1997; Seeman, 1959; Williamson & Cullingford, 1997). From these theological roots, the concept of social alienation and the existence of the social body became the subjects of con- tinued discussion and empirical research. Indeed, social alienation is one of the most widely used constructs in sociology and social psychology and within these fields numerous authors have attempted to develop analyses to unify theoretical and empirical approaches to alienation (Roberts, 2005). An alienated person is only weakly attached to the goals of belonging to a given society and may not be particularly motivated to follow generally accepted norms (Israel, 1994). Over the past 40 years, empirical studies have tried to determine the social-psychological manifestations of alienation, mostly in adults, but also in adolescents. However there is a lack of information on social alienation sta- tus among Swedish adolescents and the consequences of this. The sense of social alienation among adolescents can lead to behaviors such as sexual promiscuity, violence, vandalism, absenteeism, deviant behavior, drug abuse and alcoholism (Boyd & Mackey, 2000; Brown, Higgins & Paulsen, 2003; Matoo, Varma, Singh, Khurana, Kaur & Shama, 2001; Oerlemans & Jenkins, 1998; Slater, Henry, Swaim & Cardador, 2004). Social alienation has been conceptualized in a variety of ways, some of which come close to conceptions of health and negative health outcomes (Tomaka & Palacios, 2006; Veenho- ven, 1992). In health research, social alienation has been linked to behaviors that are destructive to health (Nutbeam, Smith, Moore & Bauman, 1993). It has been consistently correlated with anxiety, deviant behavior, substance abuse, and low partici- pation in school activities and exists more frequently among young adolescents (O’Donnell, Schwab-Stone & Ruchkin, 2006). To discern the relationship between social alienation and the feeling of ill-health it is important to study the vulnerability of a specific population, such as adolescents, in relation to a specific condition or health outcome (Amick, Tarlov & Walsh, 1995). Adolescence is a period of life during which a huge amount of physical and psychological changes occur and these changes may affect health outcomes. Recently, young people in Sweden have been defined as an important target group for pub- lic health policy because they have emerged as a new vulnera- ble group with respect to poor mental health and health behaviors (A ˚ ren, 2003; Castro, 2004). The studies that have been conducted in Sweden examine the social or psychological determinants of health among youths given that low self-esteem and feeling social estrangement contribute to feelings of ill-health (e.g. Ozolins & Stenstrom, 2003). Since there is an association between feeling social estrangement and low self- esteem stemming from social alienation, it may be important to investigate the relationship between feelings of social alienation and feeling ill-health (Seeman, 1959, 1991). Because no research exists in this area in Sweden, we prepared a valid instrument to test the relationship between feeling social alienation and feelings of ill-health. Several instruments have been developed to assess social alienation among English, French and Arabic speaking youths Ó 2010 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology Ó 2010 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. ISSN 0036-5564. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2010, 51, 517–524 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2010.00810.x