Cultural Adaptation and Preliminary Validation of the IFP-LAV for Assessing Psychosocial Factors in Juvenile Offenders

Violence among adolescents is a pressing public health concern in Latin America, yet culturally adapted tools to guide rehabilitation in juvenile justice systems remain limited. This study reports the cultural adaptation and preliminary psychometric validation of the IFP-LAV, a psychosocial assessment instrument for juvenile offenders in supervised release. Using a multi-phase mixed-methods design, the final phase involved a cross-sectional study with 156 participants in the Supervised Assisted Release Modality (mean age 18.0 years, SD = 2.2; 89.7% male; 32.1% Afro-Colombian) across three Colombian municipalities. The factor structure was examined through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and internal consistency via Cronbach’s alpha. A 23-item, four-factor structure emerged – Family Relationships, Personality and Behaviors, Self-Regulation, and Support Network – with factor loadings ranging from 0.41 to 0.78 and Cronbach’s alpha values from 0.71 to 0.88. The IFP-LAV provides preliminary evidence of structural validity and internal consistency as a culturally adapted instrument for assessing dynamic psychosocial factors in Spanish-speaking juvenile offenders and to inform context-sensitive psychosocial assessment in juvenile justice settings. Further studies using independent samples and longitudinal designs are needed to examine the instrument’s predictive validity and broader applicability.