Development and standardization of an assessment instrument for adjustment disorders- the Adjustment Disorders Scale (ADS)

Abstract

Assessing adjustment disorders has been of utmost concern to researchers and clinicians in different climes. The aim of this study was to develop and standardise an instrument that measures adjustment disorders among adolescents within the Nigerian population. By means of a cross-sectional survey, a total of 409 adolescents in secondary schools aged between 11 and 17 years with a mean age of 14.16 (SD=1.78) were sampled for the study. The initial version of the Adjustment Disorders Scale (ADS) was made up of eighty items extracted from theories and literature on various aspects of adjustment and general psychopathology. These items were first subjected to a pilot study during which ambiguous words and phrases were refined or deleted reducing the items to sixty. The remaining items were then arranged in a likert-scale format and administered to the validation sample alongside the Awaritefe Psychological Index (API) for purposes of comparison. By means of a correlational and factorial design the data was analysed. Results showed that ADS has the following reliability coefficients: a Cronbach Alpha of 0.97 and a Split-half of 0.82 and a positive and significant concurrent validity with API of 0.19. Furthermore, a principal component analysis of the ADS produced four independent component factors that make up the subscales, with 48 items in the final version. The results were discussed within the context of existing theories about adjustment disorders in adolescents. Recommendations and suggestions were made for future studies.

Keywords: adjustment disorders, validity, reliability, psychopathology