Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Hope for Tomorrow: The Development of a Life Skills Scale

by Greene, Hillary Ayn

The purpose of this study was to develop a life skills scale that assesses 5 life skills: communication, time management, coping skills, goal setting, and leadership in youth ages 11- 16 years old. To develop the Youth Life Skills Scale, a mixed methods approach was used. Interviews were conducted with coaches, teachers, and parents, to identify the meaning of the five life skills. Based on the results, items were generated and aided in the development of the Youth Life Skills Scale. The YLSS was administered to middle school students (n=261) and high school students (n=722) from a Midwestern public school. The participants were 11-16 years in age (M=13.1, SD= 1.5). Using an iterative factor analytic method and a jackknifing procedure, the resulting YLSS scales represented four of the five life skills. One of the hypothesized life skills split and a new constructs were developed. The scale structure was confirmed using structural equation modeling techniques in the confirmatory sample