Multistage Longitudinal Comparative (MLC) Design Stage II: Evaluation of the Changing Lives Program (CLP): The Possible Selves Questionnaire--Qualitative Extensions (PSQ-QE)

• NCJ Number: 222445
• Journal: Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 342-358
• Author(s): Gabrielle Kortsch; William M. Kurtines; Marilyn J. Montgomery
• Date Published: May 2008
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For other articles in this issue, see NCJ-222439-44 and NCJ-222446.

Annotation

This article reports on the results of the second of two evaluation studies of the Changing Lives Program (CLP), a multifaceted counseling program for troubled youth in Miami's alternative schools conducted as part of the Miami Youth Development Program (YDP).

Abstract

The evaluation found that qualitative change for CLP participants was positive, significant, and in the hypothesized direction compared to the control group of youth, who did not participate in the CLP. Further, response data from the Possible Selves Questionnaire-Qualitative Extensions (PSQ-QE) produced theoretically meaningful categories of measurement with robust reliability as well as construct and concurrent (external) validity. These evaluation findings provide support for the feasibility of creating evidence-based programs that promote positive development in self-esteem and identity in troubled youth. The PSQ-QE builds on the Possible Selves Questionnaire (Oyserman, 1987; Oyserman and Markus, 1990), a self-report questionnaire used to assess variation in possible selves, including participants' goals and motivation, as well as fears and anxieties. Possible selves are the selves that individuals could become or want to avoid becoming. Possible selves represent one aspect of an individual's ability to conceptualize the self in the future. The PDQ asks participants to identity up to three expected selves and three to-be-avoided selves. The PSQ-QE is an extension of the original PSQ, which was adapted for eliciting narrative expressions of the subjective meaning and significance of participants' possible future selves. The PSQ-QE extends the standard PSQ administration by providing an additional measure/method for capturing and evaluating transformative change based on the subjective meaning and significance of the conceptualization of the most important future possible self. Seventy-three adolescents who participated in the CLP were compared with 43 youth who did not, based on preintervention and postintervention PSQ-QE completion and analysis of results. 1 table, 1 figure, and 10 references