Human Development and Family Studies, Amy Gardner House, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16803, USA.
Am J Community Psychol. 2013 Sep;52(1-2):27-40. doi: 10.1007/s10464-013-9574-6.
Collective efficacy refers to a perceived sense of connectedness and willingness to intervene among youth, and is a potential aspect of positive youth development (Larson in Am Psychol 55:170-183, 2000; Lerner et al. in Child Dev 71:11-20, 2000; Sampson et al. in Science 277:918-924, 1997). Theoretically, those who feel connected to a group that is empowered to positively influence the behavior of their peers may demonstrate fewer problem behaviors. Few studies, however, have measured the impact of youth perceptions of collective efficacy. As a relatively new child-related research topic, there is much to be learned. One contribution to the foundation of this research agenda begins by evaluating the reliability and validity of a measure of collective efficacy with elementary children attending community-based afterschool programs. This paper describes the internal consistency reliability and various indicators of construct and concurrent validity of the Collective Efficacy Among Children Scale. The measure was found to have high internal consistency reliability. Construct validity was tested using exploratory factor analyses of collective efficacy including the dimensions of willingness to intervene and cohesion found in previous research (Sampson et al. in Science 277:918-924, 1997). Concurrent validity assessed relations between the scale and other measures in theoretically congruent ways. Using Hierarchical Linear Models to account for children's nestedness in after-school programs, connectedness was found to be more related to emotional adjustment, particularly children's prosocial attitudes (caring about others and sharing). Children's perception of the willingness of the group to intervene was found to be related to less problem behavior, (i.e. smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol, vandalism, and stealing). The implications suggest that future research should further explore children's collective efficacy, and ways to foster its development in youth-serving afterschool settings.
集体效能感是指年轻人之间的一种联系感和干预意愿，是积极的青年发展的一个潜在方面（Larson 在 Am Psychol 55:170-183, 2000; Lerner 等人在 Child Dev 71:11-20, 2000; Sampson 等人在 Science 277:918-924, 1997）。从理论上讲，那些感到与一个有能力积极影响同伴行为的群体有联系的人可能表现出较少的问题行为。然而，很少有研究衡量年轻人对集体效能感的影响。作为一个相对较新的与儿童相关的研究课题，还有很多需要学习。为该研究议程奠定基础的一个贡献是通过评估参加基于社区的课后计划的小学生对集体效能感的测量的可靠性和有效性来实现的。本文描述了儿童集体效能感量表的内部一致性信度和各种结构和同时效度指标。该测量方法具有较高的内部一致性信度。通过对先前研究中发现的干预意愿和凝聚力维度的集体效能感进行探索性因素分析来检验结构效度（Sampson 等人在 Science 277:918-924, 1997）。同时效度以理论上一致的方式评估了量表与其他测量方法之间的关系。使用分层线性模型来解释儿童在课后计划中的嵌套性，发现联系感与情绪调节更相关，特别是儿童的亲社会态度（关心他人和分享）。发现群体干预意愿的感知与较少的问题行为有关（即吸烟、饮酒、破坏公物和偷窃）。这意味着未来的研究应该进一步探索儿童的集体效能感，以及在服务于青年的课后环境中培养其发展的方法。
