Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTC)

General Information on the Measure
Purpose of the measure

The Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTC) assesses risk factors and protective factors that research suggests are critical to understanding and preventing substance abuse.

Main constructs measured

Intrapersonal competencies; Interpersonal competencies

Applicable grade levels

Ages 11-18

Publication year for the most recent version

2004

Year originally developed

2002

Related measures
Measure Administration
Respondent

Student

Method of administration

Paper/Pencil

Number of items

121

Item format

Five-point Likert-type scale

Administration time

50 minutes

Available languages English
Fee for use Free and publicly available
Credentials required for administration

None

Scoring
Overall score reporting

No overall scores are reported.

Subscore reporting

There are 29 risk and protective factors including neighborhood attachment, school commitment, family conflict, and social skills.

Scoring procedures

The measure is self-scored.

Interpretive information

No information is available in the references reviewed.

Evidence of Technical Quality
Populations for which technical quality evidence has been collected

Evidence in based on a multistage cluster sample of 6th, 8th, and 11th grade students in Oregon.

Reliability evidence

Internal consistency estimates (Cronbach's alpha) reported separately for subscales and by grade and gender. Estimates ranged from 0.50 to 0.93.

Validity evidence
Evidence based on content
The initial item pool was compiled from existing instruments. A second wave of pilot testing was used to look for empirical evidence of redundance (based on inter-item correlations) or lack of discrimination (low variance).
Evidence based on response processes
Items were pilot tested using cognitive interviews to remove ambiguous or unclear items.
Evidence based on internal structure
Principal component analysis (Arthur et al., 2002) was used to determine scale dimensionality.
Evidence based on relations with other variables
Relationships between risk and protective factor scales and self-reports of drug abuse and delinquency were in the anticipated direction (Arthur et al., 2002).
Locating the Measure
Obtaining a copy of the measure communitiesthatcare.net
References

Arthur, M. W., Hawkins, J. D., Pollard, J. A., Catalan, R. F., & Baglioni, A. J. "Measuring risk and protective factors for substance use, delinquency, and other adolescent problem behaviors: The Communities That Care Youth Survey," Evaluation Review, Vol. 26, 2002, pp. 575–601.

Notes

Measure summary updated October 31, 2019.