Development and Validation of the Youth Sociopolitical Action Scale for Social Media (SASSM)

Abstract

Youth sociopolitical action, which encompasses a broad range of behaviors to dismantle systems of oppression, is increasingly taking place on social media and digital platforms. This study presents the development and validation of a 15-item Sociopolitical Action Scale for Social Media (SASSM) through three sequential studies: in Study I, a scale was developed based on interviews with 20 young digital activists (M_age=19, 35% cis-gender women, 90% youth of color). In Study II, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified a unidimensional scale using a sample of 809 youth (M_age=17, 55.7% cis-gender women, 60.1% youth of color). In Study III, an EFA and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used to confirm the factor structure of a slightly modified set of items with a new sample of 820 youth (M_age=17, 45.9% cis-gender women, 53.9% youth of color). Measurement invariance testing was conducted by age, gender, racial and ethnic background, and immigrant identity, confirming full configural and metric invariance, and full or partial scalar invariance. The SASSM can further research on youths’ efforts to challenge oppression and injustice online.