Adolescent Military Stress Measure (AMSM)

Description

The Adolescent Military Stress Measure (AMSM; Gilreath et al., 2023) is a 21-item questionnaire designed to assess stressors experienced by military-connected youth. This measure was developed due to the inability of existing adolescent stress measures to comprehensively capture stressors specific to military families. The initial development involved creating a pool of 23 items derived from individual Life History Calendar (LHC) interviews and a focus group with military-connected youth, utilizing representative quotes that identified key themes during the LHC process. Focus group cognitive interviews and input from an advisory board were instrumental in refining the measure. The AMSM was administered to military-connected adolescents residing in the U.S. Subsequent exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a four-factor structure, ultimately retaining 21 items. The measure’s reliability and validity have been reported. Each item has binary “yes/no” response options. The overall score of the scale and subscales is calculated by summing the affirmative responses, with social support items being reverse-coded.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Adolescent Military Stress Measure (AMSM) is to evaluate military-related stressors specifically among military-connected adolescents.

Validity

Convergent Validity:
Structural equation models and logistic regression were employed to investigate the relationship between AMSM responses and measures of psychological distress. Logistic regression analysis indicated that each additional stressor reported on the AMSM was associated with a 7% increase in feelings of sadness/hopelessness (OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.01-1.12) and a 6% increase in suicidal thoughts (OR = 1.06, CI = 1.03-1.12). Within a structural equation model, the ongoing socioecological stressors subscale significantly predicted suicidality (b = 0.67, p = 0.05).

Content Validity:
Focus groups were conducted to assess the face and content validity of the measure, as well as to refine item wording, ensuring that the items accurately and comprehensively represent the construct of military-related stressors in adolescents.

Reliability

Internal Consistency:
The full-scale standardized alpha coefficient for the AMSM was 0.86, indicating good internal consistency. The standardized alpha values for the subscales were as follows: Relocation stressors (0.74), Ongoing socioecological stressors (0.73), Deployment stressors (0.83), and Social support stressors (0.69).

Factor Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA):
Across five randomly selected datasets, the EFA solutions consistently revealed a four-factor structure, with each factor having an eigenvalue greater than one. Two initial items, “attending an off base school” and “residing off-base,” were removed from the measure because their factor loadings were not 0.63 or higher on any of the identified factors.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA):
The results from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the four-factor solution identified in the EFA. The model fit indices suggested an adequate fit for the proposed structure, with RMSEA = 0.043, CFI = 0.969, and TLI = 0.964.

Instrument

• Test Type: Original

• Format: Inventory/Questionnaire. Each item has binary yes/no response options. The overall score of the scale and subscales is calculated by summing the affirmative items, after reverse coding social support items.

• Language Available: English

• Population Group: Human; Male; Female.

• Age Group: The measure is designed for Adolescence (13-17 yrs). However, it might be relevant for individuals in School Age (6-12 yrs) and Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs) in specific contexts.

• Population Details: Respondents are Military-Connected Youths aged 12 to 18 years old, located in the United States.

• Test Methodology: The development and validation of the AMSM utilized various test methodologies including Test Validity, Content Validity, Convergent Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis (Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis), and Structural Equation Modeling.

Keywords

Adolescent Stress, Deployment, Military Families, Military-Connected Youth, Military-Related Stressors, Ongoing Socioecological Stressors, Relocation, Social Support.

Authors

• Gilreath, Tamika D.

  • Author ORCID Identifier: 0000-0001-9545-9153

  • Affiliation: Texas A & M University, Department of Health & Kinesiology, Transdisciplinary Center for Health Equity Research

  • Email Address: [email protected]

  • Correspondence Address: Texas A & M University, Department of Health & Kinesiology, Transdisciplinary Center for Health Equity Research, 267 Gilchrist Building, 4243 TAMU, College Station, Texas, United States, 77843-4243.

• Sullivan, Kathrine

  • Affiliation: Silver School of Social Work, New York University

• Montiel-Ishino, Francisco A.

  • Affiliation: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health

• Okoror, Titilayo

  • Affiliation: Africana Studies, SUNY Binghamton University

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

• Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author (Tamika D. Gilreath) at [email protected].

• Fee: No fee is required for the use of this measure.

• Test Year: 2023

• Files: No file is available.

References

Gilreath, T. D., Sullivan, K., Montiel-Ishino, F. A., & Okoror, T. (2023). Development and validation of the AMSM for military-connected adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 32(10), 2931–2943. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02661-6

Items of the Adolescent Military Stress Measure (AMSM)

No data is available.