IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v12y2019i3d10.1007_s12187-018-9562-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Validity of the Middle Years Development Instrument for Population Monitoring of Student Wellbeing in Australian School Children

Author

Listed:
  • Tess Gregory

    (University of Western Australia
    University of Adelaide)

  • David Engelhardt

    (Department for Education and Child Development)

  • Anna Lewkowicz

    (Department for Education and Child Development)

  • Samuel Luddy

    (Department for Education and Child Development)

  • Martin Guhn

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Anne Gadermann

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Kimberly Schonert-Reichl

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Sally Brinkman

    (University of Western Australia
    University of Adelaide)

Abstract

The importance of social and emotional wellbeing has long been recognised by education systems but the measurement of wellbeing still receives far less attention than the measurement of academic achievement. This paper reports on a five-year project to measure student wellbeing across an education system within the state of South Australia using the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI). All schools (Government, Catholic, and Independent) were invited to participate in the collection at no cost and aggregated school reports provided an incentive to participate. A total of 51,574 students completed the MDI between 2013 and 2015, with higher participation rates in Government schools than Catholic or Independent schools (65%, 18 and 13% respectively in 2015). Validity and reliability analyses confirmed that the MDI scales had good psychometric properties (i.e., favourable model fit in confirmatory factor analyses, high internal consistency, and correlations between scales were consistent with theoretical expectations). Test-retest reliability (based on a sub-sample of 82 children) was acceptable for most scales except for the connectedness to adults at school (r = .50) and friendship intimacy scales (r = .40), where test-retest reliability was low. However, several of the MDI scales had ceiling effects, particularly for girls and younger students (10–11 years old), which may present challenges when using these scales for population monitoring, program and policy evaluations. Pragmatic factors for education systems and governments to consider in selecting social and emotional wellbeing tools are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Tess Gregory & David Engelhardt & Anna Lewkowicz & Samuel Luddy & Martin Guhn & Anne Gadermann & Kimberly Schonert-Reichl & Sally Brinkman, 2019. "Validity of the Middle Years Development Instrument for Population Monitoring of Student Wellbeing in Australian School Children," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(3), pages 873-899, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:12:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s12187-018-9562-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-018-9562-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-018-9562-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12187-018-9562-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jones, D.E. & Greenberg, M. & Crowley, M., 2015. "Early social-emotional functioning and public health: The relationship between kindergarten social competence and future wellness," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(11), pages 2283-2290.
    2. Craig Olsson & Rob McGee & Shyamala Nada-Raja & Sheila Williams, 2013. "A 32-Year Longitudinal Study of Child and Adolescent Pathways to Well-Being in Adulthood," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 1069-1083, June.
    3. James J. Heckman, 2008. "Schools, Skills, And Synapses," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 46(3), pages 289-324, July.
    4. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl & Martin Guhn & Anne Gadermann & Shelley Hymel & Lina Sweiss & Clyde Hertzman, 2013. "Development and Validation of the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI): Assessing Children’s Well-Being and Assets across Multiple Contexts," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 345-369, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Blair S Grace & Tess Gregory & Luke Collier & Sally Brinkman, 2022. "Clustering of Wellbeing, Engagement and Academic Outcomes in Australian Primary Schools," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(6), pages 2171-2195, December.
    2. T. Gregory & E. Dal Grande & M. Brushe & D. Engelhardt & S. Luddy & M. Guhn & A. Gadermann & K.A. Schonert-Reichl & S. Brinkman, 2021. "Associations between School Readiness and Student Wellbeing: A Six-Year Follow Up Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(1), pages 369-390, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. T. Gregory & E. Dal Grande & M. Brushe & D. Engelhardt & S. Luddy & M. Guhn & A. Gadermann & K.A. Schonert-Reichl & S. Brinkman, 2021. "Associations between School Readiness and Student Wellbeing: A Six-Year Follow Up Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(1), pages 369-390, February.
    2. Anne M. Gadermann & Martin Guhn & Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl & Shelley Hymel & Kimberly Thomson & Clyde Hertzman, 2016. "A Population-Based Study of Children’s Well-Being and Health: The Relative Importance of Social Relationships, Health-Related Activities, and Income," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1847-1872, October.
    3. James J. Heckman, 2019. "The Race Between Demand and Supply: Tinbergen’s Pioneering Studies of Earnings Inequality," De Economist, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 243-258, September.
    4. Fabian Kosse & Thomas Deckers & Pia Pinger & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch & Armin Falk, 2020. "The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 434-467.
    5. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Olivieri, Elisabetta & Triviza, Eleftheria, 2024. "Eating habits, food consumption, and health: The role of early life experiences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    6. Kai Hong & Peter A. Savelyev & Kegon T. K. Tan, 2020. "Understanding the Mechanisms Linking College Education with Longevity," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 371-400.
    7. Peng, Fei & Anwar, Sajid & Kang, Lili, 2022. "Number of siblings, access to treated water and returns to education in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 526-538.
    8. Nicolai V. Kuminoff & Jaren C. Pope, 2014. "Do “Capitalization Effects” For Public Goods Reveal The Public'S Willingness To Pay?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1227-1250, November.
    9. Tumen, Semih, 2019. "Refugees and ‘native flight’ from public to private schools," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 154-159.
    10. World Bank, 2017. "Pre-Primary Education in Mongolia," World Bank Publications - Reports 26402, The World Bank Group.
    11. Égert, Balázs & Botev, Jarmila & Turner, David, 2020. "The contribution of human capital and its policies to per capita income in Europe and the OECD," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    12. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    13. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Marianne Simonsen, 2010. "Effects of Universal Child Care Participation on Pre-teen Skills and Risky Behaviors," Economics Working Papers 2010-07, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    14. Slawa Rokicki & Mark E. McGovern, 2020. "Heterogeneity in Early Life Investments: A Longitudinal Analysis of Children's Time Use," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 647-676, September.
    15. Pinna Pintor, Matteo & Fumagalli, Elena & Suhrcke, Marc, 2024. "The impact of health on labour market outcomes: A rapid systematic review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    16. Uwe Dulleck & Juliana Silva-Goncalves & Benno Torgler, 2014. "Impact Evaluation of an Incentive Program on Educational Achievement of Indigenous Students," CREMA Working Paper Series 2014-13, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    17. Pablo Lavado & Nelson Oviedo & Hernán Ruffo, 2016. "Destruction of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills in Adulthood," Working Papers 16-07, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    18. Csilla Lazsádi, 2023. "The Effects of Microsocial Factors Through the Family on the Development of Social Competence in Preschool Children," Research & Education, Weik Press SRL, issue 9, pages 47-70, December.
    19. Eirini Leriou, 2023. "Understanding and Measuring Child Well-being in the Region of Attica, Greece: Round Five," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(4), pages 1395-1451, August.
    20. Breitkopf, Laura & Chowdhury, Shyamal K. & Priyam, Shambhavi & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Do economic preferences of children predict behavior?," DICE Discussion Papers 342, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:12:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s12187-018-9562-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.