Shift and Persist (Teen, Adult)

2018-06-28 8:52 pm

Measuring Mobility Toolkit > Measure Selector > Shift and Persist (Teen, Adult)

Shift and Persist (Teen, Adult)

Factor: Power and Autonomy

Age: Teen, Adult

Duration: Less than 3 minutes

Reading Level: Less than 6th grade

What

Developed by Edith Chen and colleagues (2015), the Shift-and-Persist Scale has 14 items that measure two strategies for dealing with stressful situations: shifting, which means accepting stress and getting used to it; and persisting, which means being optimistic and finding purpose in tough times.

Who

Researchers have used this scale with teens and adults from a range of socioeconomic statuses, including people living on a low income. Respondents come from a diverse set of racial and ethnic backgrounds, including White, Black, Latinx, Asian, Native, and multiracial (Chen et al., 2015; Dulaney, Graupmann, Grant, Adam, & Chen, 2018).

How

INSTRUCTIONS

Respondents rate 14 items on a 4-point scale (1 = not at all; 4 = a lot). The shift subscale contains four items that reflect how respondents deal with stress (e.g., “I think about what I can learn from the situation”). The persist subscale contains four items that reflect respondents’ ability to find purpose (e.g., “I feel like my life has a sense of purpose”). Researchers calculate two scores for each respondent — a shift score and a persist score — by summing each set of subscale items. Six items are filler questions and should not be used to calculate a score.

RESPONSE FORMAT

1 = not at all; 2 = a little; 3 = some; 4 = a lot.

Google Doc (.gdoc) Microsoft Word (.docx) PDF Document (.pdf)

All Survey Questions

Please rate how well the following statements describe you:

  1. I feel my life has a sense of purpose
  2. My life feels worthwhile
  3. I believe that there is a larger reason or purpose for my life
  4. I feel my life is going nowhere

Next you will see a list of things that people sometimes do, think, or feel when something stressful happens. Everybody deals with problems in their own way. Please rate how much you do each of the following things when something stressful happens in your life.

When something stressful happens in my life…

  1. I think about what I can learn from the situation
  2. I work to change or fix the problem
  3. I try not to think about it, to forget about it
  4. I think about the positive aspects, or the good that can come from the situation
  5. I start to act without thinking

In life, things don’t always go the way that we want. Everyone has different preferences for how they deal with situations in which something doesn’t turn out the way that they want, and they are not able to change it. Please rate how much you do each of the following.

When something doesn’t turn out the way that I want…

  1. Little things upset me easily
  2. I think about what good things could come from the situation
  3. I find it hard to stop thinking about what happened
  4. I start working on other new goals
  5. I think about what I can learn from the situation

Items 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 13 are distractors. Items 5, 8, 11, and 14 are summed for a shift score. Scores 1 to 4 are summed for a persist score, with 4 reverse scored.

Why It Matters

People who live on a low income often suffer from poor physical and mental health (Adler et al., 1994; Chen et al., 2015), but shift-and-persist strategies might help them stay healthier. For instance, people from low-income backgrounds who use shift-and-persist coping strategies have less inflammation in the body, which may lower the risk of chronic disease (Chen et al., 2015). Another study of teenagers found that higher shift-and-persist scores are related to fewer symptoms of depression (Dulaney, Graupmann, Grant, Adam, & Chen, 2018). Using shift-and-persist strategies may lessen some of the health risks of low socioeconomic status, reducing a barrier to upward mobility.

HEADS UP

Both of the studies described above are cross-sectional, so it is difficult to know whether one variable causes the other. Even though researchers know there is a link between shift-and-persist strategies and health, they do not know whether shift-and-persist strategies cause better health.

SEE ALSO

Shift and Persist (Child)

References

Adler, N. E., Boyce, T., Chesney, M. A., Cohen, S., Folkman, S., Kahn, R. L., & Syme, S. L. (1994). Socioeconomic status and health: The challenge of the gradient. American Psychologist, 49(1), 15–24.

Chen, E., McLean, K. C., & Miller, G. E. (2015). Shift-and-persist strategies: Associations with socioeconomic status and the regulation of inflammation among adolescents and their parents. Psychosomatic Medicine, 77(4), 371–382.

Dulaney, E. S., Graupmann, V., Grant, K. E., Adam, E. K., & Chen, E. (2018). Taking on the stress-depression link: Meaning as a resource in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 65, 39–49.