Youth strengths are as important to consider as deficits in understanding developmental outcomes and thus are an important component of psychoeducational assessment. Latino/as are understudied with regard to strength-based constructs, although cultural and socioeconomic factors may be related to differences in Latino/a parents’ views of their children's strengths and school experiences. The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale–2 (BERS-2) Parent Report is one of the most widely used measures to examine school-based strengths of students. With two sets of data collected with Spanish-speaking Latino/a parents of students aged 9 to 14 years, the authors examined the BERS-2 to explore and then preliminarily confirm latent constructs present in reports of their children's strengths. A three-factor model, labeled Self-Control, School Participation, and Emotional Health, emerged as an alternative fit to the data. Results indicate that the BERS-2 measures culturally sensitive constructs, yet amended procedures may enhance the assessment of student strengths from the parent perspective, particularly when working with Spanish-speaking Latino/a families.
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