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Assessing Young Children's Views of Their Academic, Social, and Emotional Lives: An Evaluation of the Self‐Perception Scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview
Author(s) -
Measelle Jeffrey R.,
Ablow Jennifer C.,
Cowan Philip A.,
Cowan Carolyn P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06177.x
Subject(s) - psychology , perception , developmental psychology , emotional development , social emotional learning , self concept , social perception , social psychology , social change , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , economics , economic growth
In a prospective, longitudinal study we examined the psychometric properties of the self‐perception scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview (BPI). A total sample of 97 young children were assessed with the BPI at 3 time points: preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The BPI assesses young children's self‐perceptions of their school adjustment in 6 domains: academic competence, achievement motivation, social competence, peer acceptance, depression‐anxiety, and aggression‐hostility. Results showed that 4½‐ to 7½‐year‐olds possess a multidimensional self‐concept that can be reliably measured and that the BPI is sensitive to normative changes and individual differences in young boys' and girls' views of themselves. Support for the method's validity was derived from consistent and meaningful patterns of convergence between children's self‐perceptions and ratings by adult informants–mothers, fathers, and teachers–as well as standardized test scores. In fact, in this study, the concordance between young children's self‐reports and parallel ratings by teachers or mothers were consistently as strong as if not stronger than the concordance between mothers' and teachers' ratings.