A Preliminary Language Validity Analysis of the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT)

Abstract

The Problem Oriented Screening Inventory for Teenagers (POSIT) was analyzed in a Hispanic Majority/Border Area School District to determine the test-retest correlation of the English and Spanish version of the instrument. It was hypothesized that the bilingual adolescents living on the U.S.-Mexico border use and comprehend a unique form of the Spanish language and therefore, the Spanish version of the POSIT would not correlate well with the English version of the POSIT scores for this sample. Data were calculated with Cohen's kappa coefficient to measure the extent of agreement between the English and Spanish POSIT version scores. The data analysis revealed a kappa coefficient of .36, indicating a fairly weak agreement between the English and Spanish POSIT version results for this sample. Qualitative dta indicate that 29 out of 139 Spanish version items and 3 out of 139 English version items were confusing to these bilingual students.