BEHAVIOURAL AND SOCIO-EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: A VALIDATION OF THE CROATIAN VERSION OF BERS-2 QUESTIONNAIRE

The aim of the paper was to examine the Croatian translation of the BERS-2 questionnaire on the sample of mid-adolescents, examine its convergent validity and analyse gender differences in behavioural and socio-emotional competencies of adolescents. 849 respondents participated in the research (56% female adolescents). General data questionnaire, Croatian version of the BERS-2 questionnaire, emotional competence questionnaire and family satisfaction scale were used. The conducted factor analyses have shown that the original five-factor BERS-2 structure does not correspond to the data, so a four-factor structure with a reduced number of items in comparison with the original was proposed as an optimum solution. Thus formed results have shown satisfactory psychometric characteristics for four groups of competencies. A significant correlation between the results shown on the BERS-2 questionnaire and school achievement, family satisfaction and emotional competencies indicates the convergent validity of the Croatian translation of the BERS-2. In comparison with boys, girls have achieved significantly higher results on the measures of school functioning and interpersonal strengths, while the measures of interpersonal strengths and involvement with family were assessed similarly by boys and girls. The results were analysed in the context of the data on the original BERS-2 questionnaire, the data on the verification of its features in other research and with regard to the existing knowledge about behavioural and socio-emotional competencies of adolescents. The limitations of the conducted research, as well as the need for further validation of the BERS-2 questionnaire are presented in the final part of the paper.