Protective factors for mental health of children and adolescents - Empirical results validating a concept

In Public Health, an outlook developed emphasising the importance of assets and protective factors in addition to stress and risk factors. The study aimed at the development of a brief, multidimensional questionnaire to assess protective factors for the mental health of children and adolescents. This questionnaire was to be tested as a self-report survey instrument. In a random sample consisting of 883 children and adolescents aged 11 to 17 years scales already validated in empirical research as well as questions newly developed from aspects of protective factors identified in the literature were applied in a written questionnaire. Three dimensions, covering social, personal and family assets, could be identified from the items by factor analysis. The resulting scales for the assessment of protective factors were analysed for their psychometric characteristics. Mental health and health-related quality of life served as validation criteria. The protective factors proved to significantly influence these outcomes in regression analyses, showing a proportion of explained variance of up to 53%. The child and adolescent self-report measure presented is apt to give a picture of protective factors for mental health representing the three dimensions of social, personal, and family assets.