Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S): A Universal Screening Measure of Social-Emotional Strengths for Spanish-Speaking Adolescents

The Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S), which is a measure of core psychological assets based on a higher-order model of Covitality, is comprised of 36 items and four latent traits (with three measured subscales): belief in self (self-efficacy, self-awareness, and persistence), belief in others (school support, family coherence, and peer support), emotional competence (emotional regulation, behavioral self-control, and empathy), and engaged living (gratitude, zest, and optimism). Previous international studies have supported the psychometric properties of the SEHS-S. The present study extended this research by examining the psychometric properties of a Spanish-language adaptation with a sample of 1042 Spanish adolescents (Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.65.). Confirmatory factor analyses replicated the original factorial structure, with hierarchical omega between 0.66–0.93, with 0.94 for the total score. Factorial invariance across genders revealed small latent mean differences. A path model evaluated concurrent validity, which revealed a significant association between Covitality and bidimensional mental health (psychological distress and well-being). Specifically, correlational analyses showed a negative association with internalizing/externalizing symptoms, and positive associations with subjective well-being, health-related quality of life, and prosocial behaviors. This study provides an example of a culturally relevant adaptation of an international tool to measure student strengths, which is critical to planning school programming and policy. ; The Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain (I+D+i Projects, 2017, reference number: PSI2017-88280-R, and Research Networks PSI2015-70943-REDT and PSI2017-90650-REDT) and the Department of Education, Research, Culture, and Sport from Valencian Community of Spain through two grants for the hiring of PhD research assistant awarded to M.R-R. [ACIF/2015/155; VALi+d Program) and R.F. (ACIF/2019/052; VALi+d Program) funded this ...