# Development and testing of a high-risk behavior scale for swimming among Chinese adolescents

## TL;DR

This study developed and validated a 20-item scale to measure high-risk swimming behaviors among Chinese adolescents, showing good reliability and a four-factor structure.

## Contribution

The study introduces a reliable and valid tool for assessing adolescent swimming risk behaviors in China, where such instruments were previously lacking.

## Key findings

- The scale has good internal consistency with a Cronbach’s α of 0.859 for the total scale.
- Exploratory and validation factor analyses confirmed a four-factor structure for the 20-item version.
- The scale is suitable for measuring high-risk swimming behaviors among Chinese adolescents.

## Abstract

Teenagers are the main victims of drowning, and high-risk behavior is the main cause of drowning. However, there are no reliable and valid instruments for measuring these behaviors in China.

This study aimed to provide a measurement tool for measuring the high-risk behavior of swimming among adolescents in China. The adolescent swimming risk behavior scale was developed and tested for reliability and validity.

This study used stratified sampling to ensure sample representativeness. Stratification variables included educational level (elementary school, secondary school) and geographical region (areas with differing levels of economic development), thereby capturing key differences in age maturity and social environment. Among schools selected based on the aforementioned stratification variables, questionnaires were administered to eligible students (aged 10–19 years old, capable of swimming continuously for over 25 m).

This study assessed the internal consistency, factor structure (i.e., exploratory and validation factor analyses), and convergent and discriminant validity of the adolescent swimming risk behavior scale.

The findings suggest that the scale is a relatively reliable measure for assessing high-risk behavior in adolescent swimmers. Exploratory and validation factor analyses confirmed the four-factor structure, confirming the 20-item version of the scale, which obtained good internal consistency reliability. The internal consistency coefficient, Cronbach’s α, for the formal scale ranged from 0.764 to 0.869, with the total scale Cronbach’s α value being 0.859.

The adolescent swimming risky Behavior Scale has high reliability and validity and is suitable for measuring adolescent swimming risky behavior in China.