Testing the phrase completion response option format in a Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth

Measurement of psychological empowerment among youth has relied on scales that use a Likert-type format, which has been subject to critique. Phrase completion is a technique that has been introduced as an alternative to the Likert-type format. This study tested the application of a phrase completion response option format in a measure of psychological empowerment, the abbreviated Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth, with data from a sample of high school students (n = 202) from an economically disadvantaged community located in the northeastern United States. Prior to testing the new measure, we evaluated the validity of the abbreviated version of the original scale using the Likert-type format with data from a separate sample of high school students (n = 977) from the same geographic community. Results supported the validity of both formats of the scale; however, the performance of scores from the phrase completion format was superior to the Likert-type format. Findings imply that the phrase completion format, which heretofore has not appeared in the empowerment literature, may be considered a useful form in which to construct instruments that are intended to measure empowerment among youth.