Validating the Children's Intrinsic Needs Satisfaction Scale in the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth

Validation of the CINSS in the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY) is needed, as the survey included a more representative sample of the Canadian youth population and different data collection methods than previous work. Adolescence represents a period of considerable physical, cognitive, social and emotional maturation.1 Although this time of rapid development may be associated with increased vulnerability to mental health difficulties,2 it also presents opportunities to acquire capabilities and establish patterns that can contribute to well-being (also referred to as "positive mental health") across the lifespan.3 As such, assessing well-being during adolescence is important to obtain a comprehensive understanding of youth mental health.4 In addition, the surveillance of positive mental health among youth at the population level is critical to informing meaningful mental health promotion activities. Furthermore, the CINSS subscales had adequate internal consistency and were associated with other psychosocial variables in a theoretically and empirically expected manner (e.g., youth who reported being bullied, bullying others or having other behaviour problems had lower relatedness, autonomy and competence scores).8-10,12-14 Based on these results, the authors concluded that the "CINSS scale is a promising measure of positive mental health in children and youth for national surveillance purposes" in Canada.11 The CINSS was more recently included in the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY).15 However, there are notable differences in the populations sampled and mode of survey administration within the 2014/2015 CSTADS and the 2019 CHSCY. The survey frame for the 2019 CHSCY was based on the Canada Child Benefit, while the 2014/2015 CSTADS sampled public, Catholic and private schools with students in grades 6 to 12 (or grades 6 to secondary V in Quebec) in the 10 provinces. [...]the data collection methods differed, with youth completing the 2014/2015 CSTADS using a paper questionnaire in class at school versus youth completing the 2019 CHSCY using an electronic questionnaire or by being interviewed over the telephone.