TEST REVIEW:  Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory –Youth Form

I.                  General Information

A.                    Title:  Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory – Youth Form

B.                     Authors:  Rudolf H. Moos and Bernice S. Moos

C.                    Publisher:  Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.

D.                    Publication Dates:  1990-1994

E.                     Acronym:  LISRES-Y

F.                     Time:  The LISRES-Y takes 30-60 minutes to administer

G.                    Cost:  (2002)  LISRES-Y Introductory Kit (includes Manual, 10  Reusable Item Booklets, and 50 Hand-Scorable Answer/Profile Forms) $140.00; LISRES-Y Professional Manual $32.00; LISRES-Y Reusable Item Booklets (pkg/10) $30.00; LISRES-Y Hand-Scorable Answer/Profile Forms (pkg/25) $44.00

II.               Brief Description of Purpose and Nature of Test

A.          Administration:  Individual or Group; available as self-report or structured interview; structured interview “allows an interviewer to use the inventory with youths whose reading and comprehension skills are below a sixth-grade level.”

B.           Ages: 12-18; can be used with healthy youth and also with those experiencing psychological               problems or medical disorders

C.          Purpose:  “provides an integrated picture of a youth’s current life context.  The measure assesses stable life stressors and social resources as well as changes in them over time.”

D.          Nature of Content:  9 Life Stressors Scales (Physical Health, Home and Money, Parents, Siblings, Extended Family, School, Friends, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, Negative Life Events), 7 Social Resources Scales (Parents, Siblings, Extended Family, School, Friends, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, Positive Life Events).

III.           Practical Evaluation

1. Qualitative Feature of Test Materials:  Sturdy and attractive test manual, content appropriate    for evaluating choice to administer test; directions easy to read, understand and administer.

2. Scoring Procedures:  Computerized scoring unavailable; Scoring process somewhat difficult – each test taking 20-30 minutes to score.

3. Examiner Qualifications:  No special training suggested in the administration of test but interpretation requires professional preparation in clinical or counseling psychology.

4. Face Validity and test taker rapport:  When reviewing the manual and the test, it appears to be an accurate measurement of the construct.  The manual makes suggestions for the examiner in answering possible questions by the test taker and encourages the examiner to maintain the standardization process thereby guaranteeing the test validity.

IV.            Technical Evaluation

A.     Norms:  Criteria for Interpreting LISRES-Y standard scores are represented on page 10 in the manual.  Raw scores are converted to T-scores and give equivalent percentile ranges with descriptions.  A T-score of 46-54 would be labeled as “average”.  The table is based on a sample of youths which was comprised of 197 labeled healthy, 49 diagnosed as depressed, 58 with conduct disorder, and 96 diagnosed as pediatric rheumatoid.

B.     Reliability:  The manual provides a section on the development and psychometric characteristics used in formulating this test.  The internal consistency (Cronbach) coefficients range from about .70 to .90 which could be considered moderate to high.  Male and female scores and reliability coefficients are reported separately.  The nine Life Stressors scales and seven of the Social Resources scales are intercorrelated and reported in Tables 6 and 7 on page 19 in the manual.  The categories seem to be distinct and necessary due to the lower correlations as compared to that of the reliability coefficients.  Scales were assessed in a test/retest format with a 12 to 15 month interval between observations.

C.     Validity:  The validity of this test was assessed in the manual in section four.  There are a great number of research articles cited as a basis for analyzing the content validity of the LISRES-Y.  There was evidence of validity when comparing the score of healthy youth with that of depressed, conduct disordered, or rhematoid youth.  Additional evidence of validity is provided from two field trials of five measures of youth functioning.  These field trials had the highest correlations establishing concurrent validity between the Parents scales and the measures of youth functioning. 

V.               Reviewer Comments

     Comments were generally good in the two reviews that I found for this test.  Dr. Albert Oosterhof (1998) felt that the LISRES-Y “provides useful albeit incomplete indication of stresses and social resources.”  He felt the reliability and validity was consistent and the manual easy to interpret.  Oosterhof (1998) was concerned that the manual “emphasizes the statistical significance of relationships more than interpreting the magnitude of correlations.”

     In the test review by Dr. Kevin D Crehan(1998), two main issues were raised with the LISRES-Y.  The first issue Dr. Crehan (1998) addressed was the difficulty in scoring the test manual.  It must be scored by hand and there are several steps involved in each subcategory to reach a final score.  This makes the interpretation of scores process rather time consuming for each individual test.  Crehan (1998) suggests either a new means for totaling the scores or a shorter testing format.  He also has concerns over the sample group chosen.  Crehan (1998) states “norm sample is not representative of youths in general, based on the fact that more than half of the sample was composed of distressed youths.”  It would seem that he would have liked separate interpretations of scores between that of the healthy youth and those labeled with other characteristics.

VI  Summary Evaluation

     Assessing the nature of life stressors and social resources of youth can be of great importance in the lives of these youth.  The LISRES-Y provides an organized, user-friendly measurement of these constructs for a qualified individual to use in assessment.  The manual is detailed and provides data concerning the norms groups used, tables for assessing the tests reliability and validity.  It offers concrete suggestions for examiners when administrating the test to help maintain the standardization of the scores.  The answer sheet is easy to understand and through appropriate research the question on the test are easily comprehended by those with a sixth grade reading comprehension level or higher.

     The LISRES-Y is somewhat expensive to administer to a large group but it is priced more reasonably for use on an individual basis.  It is also time consuming to tally scores which would also lead one to use it on an individual basis.

     Sexual orientation and teen pregnancy/parenthood are topics that may need to be considered in the assessment process of life stressors.  The last revision occurred in 1994 and it is somewhat surprising that these issues were not addressed.  There was no mention of cultural implications of the test or of the sample group.  Information regarding the choices to make this test valid to a wide range of people would be critical for making the choice to administer this test to certain individuals.

     Overall, the test has undergone a great deal of evaluation by the authors of the test.  It could be used effectively to explore the connections between life context factors and health and well being of a particular youth or group of youths.

References:

     Impara, J.C. & Plake, B.S. (eds.)(1998).  The thirteenth mental measurements yearbook.  Lincoln, NE:  Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.  See Test Number 185.

     Moos, Rudolf H. & Bernice S. (1994)  Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory – Youth Form.  Odessa, FL:  Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.