Assessing adolescent general functioning in residential care: the newport functional assessment

Assessment of general functioning provides a full picture of youth mental health, but little work has been done on assessing functioning within the high-risk population of adolescents in residential treatment. A new composite measure was created based on key domains identified from expert interviews and literature review and was tested in a sample of 626 adolescents in residential care. Results indicated that the causal indicator model supported the proposed measure. Individual items showed unique patterns of association with specific types of functioning (i.e. school, family). A composite score was calculated from the individual items and was associated with well-being, depression and anxiety. Differences based on sexual orientation were found. Limitations and clinical and research implications are discussed.