Although global research on the 5Cs model of Positive Youth Development (PYD; competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring) has expanded in recent years, there is a lack of understanding about distinct and consistent PYD profiles across youth from diverse socio-cultural contexts. To address this gap, this study utilized a person-oriented analytic approach to examine the PYD profiles of 11,481 emerging adults (M^age = 21.77; SD^age = 2.74; 68.66% females) from 21 countries in four continents. Results of the multi-group latent profile analysis revealed four consistent profiles of PYD across countries: high/balanced (41%), self-efficacious (28%), socio-emotional (20%), and low/self-centered (11%). Participants’ age, gender, educational attainment, and country-level collectivism were also found to be associated with specific profiles. Older and more-educated females from less collectivistic countries were more likely to be in a high/balanced profile, while younger males from more collectivistic countries tend to be in a low/self-centered profile. Older and more-educated males from less collectivistic countries were more likely to be in a self-efficacious profile, while younger and less-educated females from more collectivistic countries tend to be in a socio-emotional profile. Controlling these socio-contextual covariates, the four profiles exhibited distinct relations with adaptive (resilience and contribution) and maladaptive outcomes (anxiety and adverse life experiences) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results highlight the importance of fostering a balanced set of Cs, which include both self-efficacious and socio-emotional qualities, to promote positive adaptation in challenging times across diverse developmental settings.

School attendance problems (SAPs) are heterogenous in nature and thus warrant rigorous assessment prior to intervention. The Inventory of School Attendance Problems (ISAP) is a new instrument that supports a comprehensive assessment of SAPs. This study is the first evaluation of the Swedish version of the ISAP. A web survey comprising the ISAP, School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R), and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were administered to a Swedish community sample (n = 399) of secondary school students aged 12–16 years. We employed a cross-sectional design to test the factor structure of the Swedish ISAP using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Additionally, we evaluated internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha and omega total, and we evaluated convergent validity by comparing the ISAP with subscales from the SRAS-R and SDQ. Factor analysis yielded support for a predicted 13-factor model. Despite the Chi-square test indicating a significant misfit, the remaining fit indices suggested an adequate model fit. In this sample, there was adequate internal consistency for most scales. Correlations between ISAP factors and related constructs were generally large and positive. Overall, the findings support the reliability and validity of the Swedish ISAP, indicating its potential as a valuable tool for understanding SAPs among students in community samples. Further research is needed to explore its applicability in clinical samples.

Positive youth development (PYD) has gained considerable traction among developmental scientists, but past studies were generally conducted among youth samples from Minority World countries. This study investigated the factorial validity of the newly developed 7Cs model of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, contribution, and creativity). Specifically, we compared four measurement models (one-factor, seven-factor, higher order, and bifactor) among emerging adults living in five Southeast Asian countries. The study also aimed to establish evidence of measurement invariance across gender, age, education, and country of origin. Criterion-related validity was also sought using COVID-19 socially responsive behaviors and anxiety. Controlling for the influence of gender, age, and education, sample-level comparisons were also performed on the 7Cs. Data came from 1,888 emerging adults (M_age = 24.10; SD_age = 6.89) from Indonesia (n = 253), Malaysia (n = 289), the Philippines (n = 496), Singapore (n = 306), and Thailand (n = 544) during the pandemic. The results supported the superiority of the seven-factor model, which exhibited strict invariance across gender, age, and education and partial scalar invariance across country of origin. The 7Cs exhibited mixed associations with the pandemic-related measures. Significant differences were found in the 7Cs across the five countries. The study provides additional evidence on the theoretical validity of the 7Cs model among youth from understudied settings, while also highlighting avenues for refining current PYD measures.

Background  The School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R) is a widely used measure to understand school attendance problems. However, previous evaluations have yielded inconsistent findings on the factor structure.

Methods  We prepared a Swedish translation of the original SRAS-R plus the eight alternative items in the adapted versions of the SRAS-R (i.e., the A-SRAS-R). Subsequently, we tested the Swedish A-SRAS-R in a pilot testing, evaluated its factor structure, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and compared the model fit and internal consistency with the SRAS-R. Participants were students (n = 399) aged 12–16 years (M = 14.7, SD = 0.9) and their parents (n = 251).

Results  Results supported a four-factor solution of the A-SRAS-R. However, the fourth factor was non-optimal concerning factor loadings and reliability. We found consistent evidence of convergent validity, and inconsistent evidence of discriminant validity.

Conclusion  The results provide support for the A-SRAS-R being psychometrically sound, and superior in comparison to the SRAS-R. Notwithstanding the need for further development of the fourth factor, the A-SRAS-R appears to be a valuable instrument for understanding school absence among Swedish young people.

Cognitive abilities are closely related to social emotional competences (SEC). These abilities are important foundations in order to adapt to school, interact with peers and adults, as well as to navigate the wider socio-cultural context in which one develops. Further, young children are also acquiring and deepening their language and preliteracy skills which are important for later academic learning. Central to cognitive abilities are the processes that enable deliberate and goal-oriented actions, which fall under the conceptual umbrella of executive functions (EFs). In this study, we applied a conceptually broad perspective to examine cognitive abilities, preliteracy and SEC in preschool aged children. Children were participants in an intervention trial of the preschool edition of Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS^®) conducted in preschools located in three municipalities within a large city in Sweden. Pre-test data were used to examine cognitive abilities and SEC in this sample of Swedish 4 to 5-year-old children (N = 247). We first performed an exploratory factor analysis including the wide range of examined abilities, and found that measures of abilities typically viewed as SEC, did not group with measures of preliteracy skills and abilities typically considered as EFs. Second, we performed confirmatory factor analyses on remaining relevant indicators of cognitive abilities, which indicated a two-factor model best fit the data, with one factor involving inhibitory control and one factor involving more complex and high-demanding skills (working memory, cognitive flexibility, and preliteracy skills). Results indicated that more complex EFs and preliteracy skills were closely linked, and can be differentiated from inhibitory control, already in the preschool years. Findings also point to the importance of including a broad range of cognitive abilities (e.g., pre-literacy skills) in order to gain a nuanced description of possible interrelations between cognitive and social emotional development. Furthermore, this study contributes to the theoretical discussion on EF structure during childhood, and provides a sound empirical rationale for the further development of early interventions that consider young children’s executive functions and preliteracy skills.

Introduction: Cultural adaptation of interventions is complex and yet vital to achieving the intended benefits of interventions with new populations. However, little is known regarding deliverers’ perceptions of cultural adaptation and when a cultural adaptation process can be considered complete. The purpose of this study was to explore aspects of cultural adaptation that need further attention in an intervention that had undergone an initial cultural adaptation.

Methods: Four focus groups (FGs) were conducted with preschool teachers who had worked with a culturally adapted version of preschool Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS©) in Sweden for approximately 6 months. In total, 16 teachers from eight preschools were included, with 3–5 teachers in each group. All FGs were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis with an inductive approach was applied to the transcribed data.

Results: Three themes were identified where teachers described the need for further cultural adaptation for the intervention to align with personal and societal fundamental cultural values and be useful for their work as teachers in the Swedish preschool setting. The themes pertained to culturally adapting a manual-based intervention to a foundational, value-based approach, such as the practical application of core values and the steering documents of the Swedish preschool. Furthermore, the practical function of the culturally adapted intervention in the new cultural context revealed a further need to adjust materials and activities in interaction with the children. Finally, the prerequisites within the Swedish cultural setting, including resources and collaboration with parents as part of the work structure for preschool teachers in Sweden, needed further attention in relation to the intervention.

Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the importance of the deliverer in the cultural adaptation process in addition to adaptations that focus on end users (children in the case of preschool PATHS). Furthermore, the study indicates a need for a more open-ended view of the cultural adaptation process for interventions than perhaps previously described in models of cultural adaptation of interventions.

This pilot study examined the utility of a practice-based coaching (PBC) intervention in Swedish elementary schools designed to support the classroom climate and benefit students. The intervention involved activities, self-assessment, observation, and coaching to the teachers, with the aim of improving the classroom climate and students’ self-concept, prosocial behavior, well-being, and academic achievement. The design was a cluster randomized trial with the school as the assignment unit. Participants in the intervention were 66 students in four classes, and in the control, four classes with 77 students. The duration of the intervention was five months. An autoregressive structural equation model was estimated. The correlations between the latent variables at pre-test ranged from low to high. There were significant standardized path coefficients concerning all the latent variables pre- and post-test. The estimates of the intervention at the post-test were non-significant. The results suggested a longer duration of the intervention with more frequent coaching sessions, which may enhance its effect.

Introduction: Social emotional competence is fundamental to the positive development of children and youth. Accurately understanding and assessing children’s social emotional competencies, using psychometrically sound instruments, are essential to global efforts to support children’s social emotional learning, academic achievements, and health. This study examined the psychometric properties of a teacher-reported measure of young children’s social emotional competence, the Social Competence Scale – Teacher edition (SCS-T), in two samples of children growing up with varied economic resources/conditions, cultural norms, and educational experiences, namely Pakistan (N = 396) and Sweden (N = 309).

Methods: Participants were aged 4–6 years old. The study design was cross-sectional.

Results and Discussion: Using structural equation modelling, bi-factor confirmatory factor analysis models implying shared variance, among all items and domain-specific shared variance, among the prosocial items, emotion regulation items, and academic skills items resulted in good fitting models in each respective sample. Invariance testing across samples revealed a subset of items from each factor structure with partial scalar invariance, whereby five items had equal thresholds and could be comparable across the two samples. Thus, results provided partial support for hypotheses 1, 2, and 3, in that the posited three factor model (H1) was not clearly supported and a bi-factor model evidenced the best fit, among tested models, for both samples. Further, partial scalar invariance (H3) was found for five items out of 25 items, concerning social competence and academic skills. In regards, to the posited research question, the results of Z-tests showed significant (p < 0.001) latent mean differences between the samples. Compared to the Swedish sample, the Pakistani sample was 1.80 units lower on social competence (z = −6.41, p < 0.001) and 1.86 units lower on academic skills (z = −7.87, p < 0.001). The implications of these findings in light of efforts to promote positive child development in diverse parts of the world are considered.