Peer-Driven Justice: Development and Validation of the Teen Court Peer Influence Scale

The authors report a validation study of the Teen Court Peer Influence Scale (TCPIS), a newly developed scale, to examine its factor structure, reliability, and evidence of validity. Methods: The scale was disseminated to 202 participants in six teen courts in the state of Florida, and the authors conducted exploratory factor analyses. Content validity was established conceptually and evidence of concurrent validity, convergent construct validity, and discriminant construct validity were established statistically. Results: Factor analyses suggest that positive peer influence is operationalized by three constructs: positive cognitions/expectations, positive identity development, and modeling/imitation. The TCPIS has good internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha of .90. Conclusions: The TCPIS shows preliminary evidence of sound psychometric properties and may be used to inform teen court policy and practice.