Resumen

BANOS-CHAPARRO, Jonatan  y  FUSTER GUILLEN, Fiorella Gaby. Psychometric evidence of the Roberts Suicidal Ideation Scale in Peruvian adolescents. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2023, vol.40, n.1, pp.158-171.  Epub 01-Nov-2022. ISSN 1668-7027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.16888/interd.2023.40.1.10.

Suicidal ideation are thoughts related to death, with or without planning the place or the methods that would be used to kill oneself. Suicidal ideation has been shown to be more prevalent in adolescence, a crucial stage during human development. Identifying and intervening these problems is of utmost importance to prevent suicidal behaviors and the comorbidity of other psychological problems that can worsen the mental and physical health of the adolescent. A complementary tool in clinical practice or basic research are psychometric instruments that allow evaluating non-observable constructs in the field of psychology, for example, suicidal ideation. Therefore, the objective of the study was to present the sources of validity evidence based on the content, internal structure and in the relationship with other variables of the Roberts Suicidal Ideation Scale in Peruvian adolescents.

Suicidal ideation are thoughts related to death, with or without planning the place or the methods that would be used to kill oneself. Suicidal ideation has been shown to be more prevalent in adolescence, a crucial stage during human development. Identifying and intervening these problems is of utmost importance to prevent suicidal behaviors and the comorbidity of other psychological problems that can worsen the mental and physical health of the adolescent. A complementary tool in clinical practice or basic research are psychometric instruments that allow evaluating non-observable constructs in the field of psychology, for example, suicidal ideation. Therefore, the objective of the study was to present the sources of validity evidence based on the content, internal structure and in the relationship with other variables of the Roberts Suicidal Ideation Scale in Peruvian adolescents.

The study has an instrumental and cross-sectional design. 399 adolescents residing in Lima participated, selected through convenience sampling and inclusion criteria: a) be between 10 and 19 years old, b) place of residence in Lima and c) have accepted informed consent. Adolescents who did not meet these criteria were excluded from the study. All participants answered three scales, which were: the Roberts Suicidal Ideation Scale, the Paykel Suicidal Ideation Scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The last two scales have evidence of validity in the Peruvian adolescent population. In that sense, 237 (59.4 %) were women and 162 (40.6 %) were men. The mean age was 17.81 (SD = 1.03) in a range of 15 to 19 years. Likewise, additional questions were asked about suicidal behavior during the last 12 months, where 2.8 % considered seriously committing suicide, 2.5 % made suicide plans, and 2.5 % attempted suicide, but were unsuccessful.

Regarding the results of the investigation. In principle, three Peruvian psychologists reviewed the content of the items and all considered that the items were representative and relevant to explain the construct. Likewise, through the modeling of structural equations, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to analyze the internal structure of the scale, where it was evidenced that the structure was essentially one-dimensional (CFI = .99; RMSEA = .04 [90 % CI; .00-.12], SRMR = .01, WRMR = .30) and presented factorial loads (λ) higher than .50. On the other hand, the internal consistency was acceptable ω = .84 [95 % CI: .81-.86] and reliability of the construct H = .94, showing that the items are homogeneous and coherent. The multigroup measurement invariance and its different conditions (configural, metric and strong) according to sex (women vs. men) and age (15 to 17 years vs. 18 to 19 years), was stable in the different restrictions and fulfilling the points of Suggested. Cut-off for the variation of the fit índices: (ΔCFI < .01; ΔSRMR < .03), showing that the internal structure of the instrument is the same for the sex and age groups. Finally, a positive relationship was found (r = .35; p = .01) with another instrument that assesses suicidal ideation (thoughts of death, suicidal ideation and suicide attempt) and negative relationships with the positive dimension (r = -.31; p = .01) and negative dimension (r = -.25; p = .01) of self-esteem. All correlations had a minimal effect size.

The research results suggest a one-dimensional factorial structure, adequate internal and construct consistency, coherent relationship with other variables and invariance according to sex and age. The findings allow us to conclude and recommend of the Roberts Suicidal Ideation Scale scores for the specific use in Peruvian adolescents and comparison of groups (sex and age) are reliable and adequate.

Palabras clave : suicidal ideation; adolescent; mental health; psychological tests; health evaluation.

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