The Development of the Children's Emotional Adjustment Scale-Preschool Version

The study examined the psychometric properties of the Children's Emotional Adjustment Scale-Preschool Version (CEAS-P), a new behavioral rating scale completed by parents. The scale measures preschoolers' emotional functioning across three competency-based factors (Temper control, Social assertiveness, Anxiety control) anchored on healthy emotional development. In two independent community samples, mothers of 231 and 802 children aged 3 to 5 years answered the CEAS-P and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed factor structure. Scores on the CEAS-P factors were found to have satisfactory reliability (alpha = .88-.93) and acceptable concurrent validity with the SDQ. Temper control showed the highest correlation with SDQ Conduct problems (r = -.66), whereas Social assertiveness and Anxiety control evidenced the highest correlations with SDQ Emotional symptoms (r = -.45 and r = -.59, respectively). The findings suggest that the CEAS-P can be used to measure preschoolers' emotional competence and may benefit researchers and practitioners examining normal as well as abnormal aspects of child mental health and development.