The Psychometric Properties of Persian version of Youth Risk Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (YRBS 2019)

High-risk behaviors are of the most important health and psychological and social challenges that most countries in the world are involved with in some way. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Youth Risk Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (YRBS 2019) for the Iranian youth population.

This was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study in which the statistical population consisted of university students in Mashhad City, Iran, in the academic year of 2020-2021. Participants were 400 eligible students who were selected using stratified random sampling method. After translating the questionnaire using translation-retranslation method, content validity was assessed using relative content validity coefficient (CVR) and content validity index (CVI), construct validity using factor analysis, reliability using intra-cluster correlation coefficient, and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha.

The mean age of students was 23.54 ± 2.36 years. Indices related to content and face validity of 40 items were confirmed. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the structure of 6 factors, and the total of 25 questions. Cronbach's alpha value was confirmed in all domains and in total, more than 0.7 for all. The intra-cluster correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.735 (P = 0.007) which indicated the reliability of the questionnaire. 

The YRBS short form questionnaire had the necessary psychometric properties for assessing high-risk behaviors of young people. In this study, 6 factors extracted in YRBS questionnaire were consistent with the factors extracted in the original version; therefore, it is suggested to use this tool to detect high-risk behaviors in young people.