Understanding Indonesian adolescents’ self-worth: Adaptation, psychometric validation, and person-item mapping using the Rasch model
Zeti Novitasari, Bambang Budi Wiyono, Nur Hidayah, Muslihati, Nordin Bin MamatBACKGROUND:
Self-worth plays a pivotal role in adolescent health promotion, influencing psychological well-being, academic engagement, and adaptive functioning. Reliable assessment of self-worth is essential for early identification and intervention in educational and health-promotion settings. However, culturally adapted and psychometrically validated self-worth instruments for Indonesian adolescents remain scarce. This study aimed to adapt and validate a self-worth scale for Indonesian adolescents using the Rasch measurement model.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Total 1,106 (female = 675, male = 431) Indonesian adolescents aged 13–18 years, selected from serval secondary schools (junior high school and senior high school) in carious regions in Indonesia to represent various social and cultural backgrounds. This quantitative study employed a survey design involving Indonesian adolescents recruited from secondary schools, who provided informed consent. Data were collected through an online questionnaire using an adapted self-worth scale. Rasch model analysis was applied to evaluate item fit, person and item reliability, separation indices, unidimensionality, and person–item mapping, ensuring robust measurement quality for health-promotion applications.
RESULTS:
The Rasch analysis demonstrated that most items fit the model adequately, supporting construct validity, and measurement consistency. The scale exhibited satisfactory person and item reliability, indicating its effectiveness in differentiating adolescents across varying levels of self-worth. Acceptable separation indices suggested sufficient sensitivity for screening and intervention planning. Unidimensionality analysis confirmed that the scale measured a single underlying construct of self-worth. Person–item mapping revealed appropriate targeting of items to respondents’ ability levels, with minor gaps observed at the extreme ends of the continuum.
CONCLUSION:
The findings indicate that the adapted self-worth scale possesses sound psychometric properties and is suitable for use in adolescent health-promotion and educational contexts. This validated instrument can support systematic assessment, monitoring, and evidence-based interventions aimed at strengthening adolescents’ psychological well-being, particularly in cultural context of Indonesian adolescents.