Express Technique for Studying Identity Constructs of Russian Youth: Development and Testing

Background. Modern sociocultural transformations increase the need for brief and valid tools for comprehensive identity diagnosis, especially among youth, who are most susceptible to social changes. The “Express Technique for the Study of Identity Constructs of Russian Youth” is currently under development as a modular technique for the empirical study of youth identity in contemporary Russia.

Objective. The first stage of testing the author’s technique including confirmation of its basic structure and the internal consistency of its subscales is the scope of this study.

Study Participants. The study involved 475 participants aged 18 to 35 years (М = 26.8, SD = 2.4) from various regions of Russia, 58% of the respondents were female and 42% of the sample were male.

Methods. For the initial evaluation of the express tool, we used the coefficient of internal consistency (Cronbach’s α), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Pearson correlation analysis to check convergent validity.

Results. During the initial validation stage, six out of ten subscales showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.60), with four subscales exceeding the reliability threshold of 0.70, which was in line with established research standards. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the construct validity of most subscales (CFI and TLI > 0.95, RMSEA < 0.08). Inter-scale correlations revealed significant positive relationships among content-related identity constructs, confirming convergent validity. However, several subscales and individual items require additional development.

Conclusions. The initial results confirm the usefulness of the modular, express technique for studying youth identity constructs. However, the identified limitations highlight the need to refine individual items and analyse external validity and test-retest reliability indicators, which is the goal of future publications.

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