A Preliminary Validation of the Youth Over-and Under-Control (YOU-C) Screening Measure with a Community Sample

Counselling practice has been supported by the development and use of interventions that are situated around overcontrol (OC) and under-control (UC) personality characteristics. Although related measures are currently available for young children (Gilbert et al., 2020a) and adults (Seretis, 2017), the advancement of counselling practice and related research across international samples can be enhanced through the development and validation of a measure suitable for use with older children and adolescents. We implemented a cross-sectional psychometric validation with 438 young people (M-age = 13.96, SD = 1.59) in south-east London which resulted in preliminary evidence for the Youth Over- and Under-Control (YOU-C) measure, 2-factor solution represented by Overcontrol (14 items) and Under-Control (11 items) subscales that accounted for 33.01% of variance among scores. Reliability estimates indicted suitability for basic research purposes, but not clinical decision-making activities. No statistically significant differences were identified based on gender or age.

Automated summary

The study conducted a psychometric validation with 438 young people, supporting the preliminary evidence for the YOU-C measure with Overcontrol and Under-Control subscales. The measure was found suitable for basic research purposes but not for clinical decision-making activities, with no statistically significant differences based on gender or age.