Social and emotional competencies in Portuguese incarcerated males: psychometric properties of the SEC-Q questionnaire and their relation to health risk behaviors

Abstract This study departs from the acknowledged absence of validated measures to assess social and emotional competencies in incarcerated individuals. This is a critical gap given that most available programs aimed at fostering prosocial behavior and reducing antisocial behaviors are theoretically based on enhancing these competencies. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the Social and Emotional Competencies Questionnaire (SEC-Q) in a sample of 219 Portuguese incarcerated males (M age = 37.21 years, SD = 10.61), and to explore the impact of the SEC-Q dimensions on health risk behaviors in this population. The study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the factor structure of the SEC-Q. The four-factor model fitted well to the data (SB χ 2 = 267.75; df = 120; Robust CFI = 0.99; Robust RMSEA = 0.06), and, as expected, it includes four dimensions: self-awareness, self-management and motivation, social awareness and prosocial behavior, and decision-making. The four dimensions showed appropriate internal consistency ( Cronbach’s alpha = 74–81; McDonald’s omega = 75–82). Additionally, social and emotional competencies were related to higher self-control ( r s = 0.45, p <.01) and lower health risk behaviors ( r s = − 0.25, p <.01), supporting convergent and divergent validity. Findings from the negative binomial regression suggest that higher social awareness and prosocial behavior is related to less health risk behaviors among incarcerated males. This study is a pivotal step to promote an affordable and valid measure to assess social and emotional competencies among Portuguese justice-involved males. SEC-Q can be an important complementary measure for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing criminal recidivism.