RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE ADOLESCENT HEALTH PROFILE-TYPES

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the prelimina ry reliability and validity of a set 13 profiles of adolescent health that describe distinct patterns of health and health service requireme nts on four domains of health. METHODS. Reliability and validity were tested in four ethnically diverse population samples of urban and rura l youths aged 11 to 17-years-old in public schools (N = 4,066). The re liability of the classification procedure and construct validity were examined in terms of the predicted and actual distributions of age, ge nder, race, socioeconomic status, and family type. School achievement, medical conditions, and the proportion of youths with a psychiatric d isorder also were examined as tests of construct validity. RESULTS. Th e classification method was shown to produce consistent results across the four populations in terms of proportions of youths assigned with specific sociodemographic characteristics. Variations in health descri bed by specific profiles showed expected relations to sociodemographic characteristics, family structure, school achievement, medical disord ers, and psychiatric disorders. CONCLUSIONS. This taxonomy of health p rofile-types appears to effectively describe a set of patterns that ch aracterize adolescent health. The profile-types provide a unique and p ractical method for identifying subgroups having distinct needs for he alth services, with potential utility for health policy and planning. Such integrative reporting methods are critical for more effective uti lization of health status instruments in health resource planning and policy development.