Application of the Future Expectation Scale for Adolescents (FESA) in Brazil

Abstract

This exploratory study analyzed the factor structure of the Future Expectation Scale for Adolescents (FESA) in a Brazilian sample of emerging and young adults to determine its utility for research and clinical use in Brazil. The sample included 547 young adults, ranging from 18-29 years old (M = 22; SD = 3.9), from different socioeconomic status and 351 (64.2%) females. Results of Confi rmatory Factor Analysis revealed that the original model found for the FESA did not fi t the Brazilian sample well. Therefore, a subsequent Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed with the 24 self-reported FESA items. Results demonstrated a cohesive factor structure for the FESA, but the factor structure was different from the original. For instance, items belonging to the original factor 'Marriage and Family' loaded better with the original factor 'Children's Future,' which was renamed 'Children and Family.' The original factor 'Church and Community' was slightly different and was renamed 'Church' to be consistent with the Brazilian context. The factor structure of the FESA was consistent and the measure was found to be useful for further studies in this area. Keywords: Factor structure, future expectations, adolescents, youth, emerging adults. ResumoEste estudo exploratório analisou a estrutura fatorial da Escala de Expectativas Futuras de Adolescentes (FESA) em uma amostra brasileira de jovens adultos (n= 547), 64,1% do sexo feminino, com idades entre 18 e 29 anos (M = 22; DP = 3,9), de diferentes níveis socioeconômicos, a fi m de determinar a utilidade da escala para fi ns de pesquisa e aplicação clínica no Brasil. Resultados da Análise Fatorial Confi rmatória revelaram que o modelo original do FESA não se adequou bem à amostra brasileira. Posteriormente, uma Análise Fatorial Exploratória foi realizada com os 24 itens do FESA. Os resultados mostraram que o FESA apresentou uma estrutura fatorial coesa, mas diferente da original. Por exemplo, itens que pertenciam originalmente ao fator 'Casamento e Família' carregaram mais satisfatoriamente no fator 'Futuro das crianças' que foi, então, renomeado como 'Crianças e Família'. O fator original 'Igreja e Comunidade' apresentou breves mudanças e foi renomeado como 'Igreja', a fi m de harmonizar com o contexto brasileiro. A estrutura fatorial do FESA mostrou-se consistente e a medida foi considerada útil para futuras pesquisas nesta área.

Adolescent Life Perspectives After War: Evaluation and Adaptation of the Future Expectation Scale in Uganda

“…Principal component analysis revealed a factor structure differing from the original Chilean and the Brazilian FESA . This result is in line with the observations of both prior FESA author teams, who argue that the contextual specificities of the participants’ background influence the measures’ factorial structure (McWhirter and McWhirter, 2008; Dutra-Thomé et al, 2015).…”

“…This is especially relevant in Uganda with its very young population, growing middle-class and changing economic market. The results also suggest that an adaptation of the factor structure of the instrument is necessary when applying the FESA items in a new setting, as previously argued by Dutra-Thomé et al (2015). Further studies should seek to replicate the Ugandan FESA ’s factor structure in other post-conflict societies to assess whether there are cultural influences beyond the post-war setting alone.…”

“…21 of the items were also part of the original Chilean FESA and one item was only used in the Brazilian FESA . The answer format of the 5-point Likert scale ranging from “I do not believe this at all” to “I certainly believe this” of the Brazilian FESA and the revised version of the original Chilean version of the FESA (see Dutra-Thomé et al, 2015 for the psychometric details of the revised version of the original Chilean FESA ) was applied. The 5-point-Likert scale was chosen instead of the original Chilean 7-point Likert Scale, as the local research team argued that participants in the rural areas tend to struggle with more detailed scales.…”

“…As the focus group had deemed the items “I will participate in many church activities,” “I will get married before I am 25 years old” and “I will participate in sports or another type of exercise” of the original Chilean FESA sample inappropriate for the Ugandan context, these items were not included in the questionnaires and could thus not be assessed in the CFA. Additionally, the item “I will dedicate time to spend with my family” used in the Ugandan version of the FESA that was only part of the Brazilian (Dutra-Thomé et al, 2015) but not the Chilean version (McWhirter and McWhirter, 2008) of the FESA , was excluded from CFA. Since the item-pool of the Ugandan version differed only slightly from the Chilean FESA (3 items differed) but more strongly form the Brazilian item pool (6 items of the Ugandan FESA were not included in the Brazilian version) we did not calculate the model fit for the Brazilian FESA structure in the Ugandan sample.…”

“…Differential findings were reported for the health subscale, which was negatively correlated with risk factors such as alcohol consumption and smoking. The FESA was then adapted for use in a sample of Brazilian teenagers and young adults of different socioeconomic statuses (Dutra-Thomé et al, 2015). However, as the original FESA factor structure did not fit the Brazilian sample, the authors changed some of the items and calculated a different factor structure.…”