Toward the Development of a Measure of Sociopolitical Consciousness: Listening to the Voices of Salvadoran Youth

A mixed methods approach was used to explore dimensions of sociopolitical development of youth in El Salvador. Photovoice was used to engage 2 groups of adolescents from a rural village to document and discuss their community. Using previous theory and models of sociopolitical development as a guide, themes were identified to inform the development of a quantitative measure we call sociopolitical consciousness. New and preexisting items were combined to create a measure that reflected the themes from the qualitative data. The resulting measure was completed by 682 Salvadoran high school students across 3 different community contexts; 7 factors were subsequently identified representing both individual and collective dimensions of sociopolitical consciousness. The study demonstrates how a contextualized research process can facilitate a synergy between the emic and etic dimensions of sociopolitical development.