Academic - School Importance

Scale Description:

Among adolescents, academic achievement has been found to negatively correlate with risk behaviors, including behaviors relevant to the risk for contracting HIV (Brooks et al., 1994). Adolescents who perceive school as important may be less likely to engage in HIV risk behavior. A four-item school importance scale can be found in Stevenson et al. (1998). The sample included African American and Caucasian adolescents ages 13-18 (alpha = .71).

Scale items:
  1. How important to you is finishing high school?
  2. How important to your parents is your finishing high school?
  3. How important is getting a high school diploma in successfully obtaining your life goals?
  4. How important is going to college in successfully obtaining your life goals?

    USE THE FOLLOWING RESPONSE CATEGORIES.

    1. Not at all important
    2.
    3.
    4.
    5. Very important

    --End Survey.

    Reference:

    Stevenson, W., Maton, K.I., & Teti, D.M. (1998). School importance and dropout among pregnant adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 22, 376-382.

    Brook, J.S., Balka, E.B., Abernathy, T., Hamburg, B.A. (1994). Sequence of sexual behavior and its relationship to other problem behaviors in African American and Puerto Rican adolescents. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 155, 107-114.

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