Peer Interactions in Residential Youth Care: A Validation Study of the Peer Interactions in Residential Youth Care (PIRY) Questionnaire

Abstract

Interactions among peers in residential youth care are an important dynamic factor affecting behavioral adjustment and treatment success. Assessment and monitoring of the quality of peer interactions are potentially important for promoting a positive peer culture at the living group, contributing to a positive social climate. However, currently, there are no measures available to assess peer interactions in residential youth care. The present study describes the development, construct validity, and reliability of the Peer Interactions in Residential Youth Care questionnaire (PIRY) in a sample of 345 adolescents (age M = 15.45, SD = 1.59, 44.9% male) in the Netherlands. Confirmatory factor analysis of a two-factor model (peer support and acceptance, and relational aggression) showed a good fit to the data, and internal consistency reliabilities were good for both scales. Partial strict measurement invariance for gender was established, and no significant differences were found between boys and girls on latent factor means. The PIRY can be used in practice to assess and monitor both positive and negative peer interactions in residential youth care at the group level. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Youth, prosociality, and child welfare: an investigation of positive peer influence and youth prosocial behavior in group home care

“…Practice wisdom shows that youth placed in group home care spend majority of their time with peers in the home. Their interaction and influence (positive or negative) on each other is crucial as it could have varied implications on intervention outcomes (Sonderman et al, 2020).…”

“…Research shows that positive changes were made in youth antisocial behaviors and there were development of prosocial skills after the model was used to treat them (Nas et al, 2005). Peer influence (positive or negative) in group homes is still considered a crucial potent factor impacting youth behavioral change, placement and treatment outcomes (Sonderman et al, 2020).…”

Psychometric analysis of the Group Climate Inventory—Revised in adults with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning in a secure residential facility

“…The GCI went through an iterative development and validation process, which resulted in the GCI‐R. Van der Helm and colleagues convened a series of focus groups with several clients and practitioners in three different facilities who provided feedback on the content of pre‐existing scales and items (Neimeijer et al, 2019; Van der Helm et al, 2009, 2011), as well as topics from other measures under development at the time that map institutional repression (De Valk, 2019) and peer interactions (Sonderman et al, 2020). Using data from the focus groups, an item pool was created of 101 items that were included in a pilot version of the GCI‐R.…”

“…However, when clients had to rate the Atmosphere scale, they tended to consider only the environmental aspects, but not the interactional aspects (Van der Helm et al, 2021). As the interactions amongst clients are considered an important part of the group climate quality in relation to the Atmosphere scale (Sonderman et al, 2020), the Atmosphere scale has been replaced by two separate scales in the GCI‐R, namely Peer interactions and Physical environment scales. In addition, the Repression scale only included items of overt repression that reflected the authoritative threat of sanctions to enforce compliance by clients.…”

“…During the period 2016–2019, the GCI was further developed into the Group Climate Inventory—Revised (GCI‐R: Van der Helm et al, 2021), based on feedback from clients and staff during its use in practice. In addition, the continued development of the GCI was driven by content‐related considerations (De Valk, 2019; Sonderman et al, 2020) (see Section 2.2 for the adaptation process of the GCI‐R). Ongoing research by Van der Helm and colleagues aims to explore the psychometric properties of the GCI‐R in youth without intellectual disability.…”