Re-examining the youth program quality survey as a tool to assess quality within youth programming

Figures & data

Table 1. Program characteristics of study sample

Programs characteristics		# of programs (sites)	# of youth
Type of site	For-profit	21 (2)	194
	Not-for-profit	17 (7)	197
Type of program	Leadership	6 (2)	72
	Mentoring	2 (1)	24
	Sport	30 (5)	295
	Competitive	20 (2)	194
	Recreational	10 (3)	101
Type of participants	All girls	16 (3)	159
	All boys	6 (3)	59
	Mixed gender (boys and girls)	16 (3)	173

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for individual items of the YPQS

Item	M	SD	Skew.	Kurt.
Adult Support and Structure
1. Activities promoted healthy habits	3.32	.73	−.10	.92
2. Adults listened to what I had to say	3.30	.64	−.60	.56
3. I felt comfortable going to adults for advice	3.21	.73	−.63	.07
4. Rules and expectations were clear	3.36	.72	−1.04	1.04
5. Activities were just right for my age	3.31	.72	−.92	.80
Empowered Skill-building
6. I learned to work with others as a team	3.50	.65	−1.23	1.60
7. Activities taught me to develop a plan to reach my goals	3.32	.72	−.86	.47
8. I was challenged to think and build skills	3.31	.68	−.79	.67
9. There were opportunities to learn new subjects	3.22	.78	−.75	.06
10. I felt that I could make a difference	3.14	.77	−.69	.20
11. I was encouraged to take responsibility	3.34	.72	−.91	.58
12. I gained a broader view of [name of program]	3.35	.71	−.94	.66
Expanding Horizons
13. Serving others and volunteering was important	3.25	.69	−.77	.85
14. I learned to accept differences in others	3.47	.62	−.88	.38
15. I gained a broader view of the world beyond my community	3.13	.75	−.44	−.42
16. Activities were related to issues in my club, my family and my community	2.74	.93	−.24	−.83
Negative Experiences
17. I was embarrassed or put down	1.64	.79	1.06	.39
18. Conflicts between people were a problem	1.881	.93	.78	−.35
19. I felt like I didn’t belong	1.49	.75	1.65	2.43

Notes:

YPQS variables were measured on a scale of 1–4. For further suggestions regarding the use of this measure, see Recommendations within the Discussion.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the four dimensions and inter-factor correlations of the re-specified model

Scale	α	M	SD	Skew.	Kurt	1	2	3	4
Adult support and structure	.798	3.30	.52	−.54	.17	–	.66^**	.53^**	−.34^**
Empowered skill-building	.838	3.31	.51	−.74	.963		–	.61^**	−.26^**
Expanding horizons	.761	3.15	.54	−.12	−.40			–	−.19^**
Negative experiences	.633	1.67	.63	1.05	1.36				–

^** p ≤ .01.

Table 4. Items of the YPQS organized by subscales and corresponding NRCIM features

Subscale	Item numbers	NRCIM feature
Adult support and structure	1	Physical and psychological safety
	2, 3	Supportive relationships
	4, 5	Appropriate structure
Empowered skill-building	6	Positive social norms
	7, 8, 9	Skill-building opportunities
	10, 11	Support for efficacy and mattering
	12	Integration of family, school and community efforts
Expanding horizons	13	Positive social norms
	14	Opportunities to belong
	15, 16	Integration of family, school and community efforts
Negative experiences^*	17	Physical and psychological safety
	18	Positive social norms
	19	Opportunities to belong

Note.

^* Items under the subscale negative experiences are negatively worded.