©Freund Publishing House Ltd. Int J Adolesc Med Health 2006;18(3):547-558. Development and validation of a positive youth development scale in Hong Kong Daniel TL Shek, PhD, FHKJPS, BBS, JP 1 , Andrew MH Siu, PDOT, MSc, MSc, PhD 2 , Tak Yan Lee, MSW, PhD, RSW 3 , Howard Cheng, BSocSc, MSW, Dip(Exe Mgt), PhD RSW 4 , Sandra Tsang, BSocSc, MSocSc, PhD, FHKPS, C.Psychol, BPS, RSW , Joyce Lui, BSSc, RSW 1 and Daniel Lung, BSW, RSW 1 'Social Welfare Practice and Research Centre, Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2 Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 3 Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, 4 Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Abstract:yxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaYWUTSRPNLKIHGEDCBA The development of the Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale (CPYDS) is outlined in this paper. The CPYDS assesses 15 aspects of positive youth development, including bonding, resilience, social competence, emotional competence, cognitive competence, moral competence, behavioral competence, self-determination, self-efficacy, spirituality, positive view of the future, positive self-identity, prosocial involvement, prosocial norms, and recognition for positive behavior. Based on a Well Adjustment Group (N=162) and a Poor Adjustment Group (N=264), the present findings showed that the CPYDS and its subscales possess acceptable internal consistency. Except the Self-Efficacy Subscale, the CPYDS total and subscale scores were able to discriminate the two groups. While the CPYDS total and subscale scores were positively related to thriving, wellness assessment and life satisfaction measures, they were negatively related to substance abuse, delinquency, and behavioral intention to engage in problem behavior. The present findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the CPYDS to assess positive youth development in the Chinese culture. Keywords: Chinese adolescents, positive youth development, assessment, validation study, Hong Kong Correspondence: Professor Daniel TL Shek, Social Welfare Practice and Research Centre, Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. E-mail: DANIELSHEK@CUHK.EDU.HK Submitted: November 15, 2005. Revised: December 20, 2005. Accepted: December 21,2005. INTRODUCTION In the literature on prevention of youth problems (i.e., prevention science ap- proach), the focus is on the minimization or prevention of youth problems. While min- imization and prevention of adolescent problems is an important focus, there are views suggesting that this is a "pathological" approach that has limited our understanding of the potentials of adolescents. For example, Benson (1) argued against the pathological model and proposed a developmental model. Lerner and Benson (2) similarly argued for the Brought to you by | Carleton University OCUL Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/15 9:45 PM