Early Childhood Social Skills Measure (ECSSM)

Abstract

The Early Childhood Social Skills Measure (ECSSM), introduced by Kuru, Ungar, and Akman in 2023, is a specialized psychometric instrument designed to assess the social skills of young children, particularly those navigating the challenging circumstances of refugee contexts. The development of the ECSSM was grounded in an extensive literature review covering core concepts such as social competence, peer relationships, social adaptation, and prosocial behaviors relevant to early childhood.

Initial item generation, which included input from focus group discussions with preschool teachers to ensure ecological validity, resulted in a pool of 48 items. The validation study utilized a sample of preschool-aged Syrian refugee children of Turkmen descent. Through rigorous statistical evaluation, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the scale was refined to a stable six-factor structure, leading to the elimination of 14 initial items. Further refinement via Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) addressed cross-loadings and correlated error terms, resulting in a final, parsimonious model consisting of 23 items across six distinct factors, which demonstrated a satisfactory fit to the data.

Keywords

Assertion, Assertiveness, Child Characteristics, Communication, Cooperation, Developmental Measures, Early Childhood, Early Childhood Development, Empathy, Preschool Students, Preschoolers, Refugees, Responsibility, Self-Control, Social Skills

Authors

Kuru, Nilufer, Ungar, Michael, Akman, Berrin

[quads id=5]

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Early Childhood Social Skills Measure (ECSSM) is to provide a reliable and valid assessment tool for measuring the social skills and adaptive behaviors of preschool-aged children. Crucially, the measure was developed specifically for use within the unique environmental and social framework of a refugee camp, addressing a significant gap in culturally and contextually sensitive developmental measures for this vulnerable population.

Construct

The central psychological construct measured by this instrument is Early Childhood Social Skills. This broad construct encompasses multiple dimensions, which, following factor analysis, coalesce into six distinct factors. These factors likely reflect key behavioral domains necessary for successful social integration and adaptation, such as effective Communication, Cooperation, Self-Control, and Responsibility, all vital for children facing high-stress environments.

Validity

While the scale development process included rigorous factor analytical procedures aimed at establishing internal structure (construct validity), specific data regarding criterion validity (e.g., correlation with external measures of social competence) or convergent/discriminant validity coefficients were not provided in the source documentation.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the ECSSM subscales was thoroughly assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The resulting coefficients demonstrated acceptable to good reliability across the factors. Specifically, the coefficients ranged from a low of 0.73 for the Responsibility factor to a high of 0.85 for the Cooperation factor. This range indicates that the individual subscales possess sufficient internal consistency for research use.

Factor Analysis

The development of the ECSSM involved a robust two-step factor analytic process to define its structure:

Principal Component Analysis: An initial Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted on the 31 items retained after the initial item reduction phase. The resulting six-factor model was successful in capturing a substantial portion of the scale’s variance, accounting for 72.94% of the total observed variance.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: Subsequent Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to test the fit of the proposed six-factor structure. During this process, a review of modification indices indicated a significant correlation between the error terms of items C-1 (Communication-1) and C-2 (Communication-2). Allowing these two error terms to covary freely led to a revised model with a satisfactory fit to the data, supported by the following metrics: χ2 = 963.61, df = 186, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.941, NFI = 0.914, GFI = 0.891, RMSEA = 0.074, and RMR = 0.018.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire.

Format: The final instrument comprises 23 items organized across six factors. Responses are collected using a 3-point Likert scale with options labeled: always, sometimes, and never.

Language Available: The instrument is available in its original English version, and a Turkish translation is also available.

Population Group: The measure is intended for human subjects, including both male and female children.

Age Group: The instrument is broadly applicable to the Childhood (birth to 12 years) and School Age (6 to 12 years) ranges. It was specifically validated using a sample of children aged 5 to 7 years.

Population Details: The scale was developed for and tested on Syrian refugee children of Turkmen origin who were residing in Turkey.

Test Methodology: The validation process utilized comprehensive psychometric methods, including Test Reliability analysis, Internal Consistency analysis, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Principal Component Analysis (PCA).

Keywords

Assertion, Assertiveness, Child Characteristics, Communication, Cooperation, Developmental Measures, Early Childhood, Early Childhood Development, Empathy, Preschool Students, Preschoolers, Refugees, Responsibility, Self-Control, Social Skills

[quads id=5]

Authors (Detailed)

Kuru, Nilufer

• Affiliation: Siirt University, Faculty of Education Department of Early Childhood Education

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

• Correspondence Address: [email protected]

Ungar, Michael

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0431-347X

• Affiliation: Dalhousie University, Faculty of Health Resilience Research Centre

Akman, Berrin

• Affiliation: Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education Department of Early Childhood Education

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The ECSSM was developed and published in 2023. There is currently no fee required for the use of this measure, as it is not intended for commercial application. To obtain formal permission to administer the scale, interested parties must contact the Corresponding Author, Nilufer Kuru.

Reference’s

Kuru, N., Ungar, M., & Akman, B. (2023). Child refugee’s social skills and resilience: Moderating effects of time in refugee camp, parental education, and preschool attendance. Infant and Child Development, 32(4), Article e2424. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2424

[quads id=5]

Items of the Early Childhood Social Skills Measure (ECSSM)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

No data is Available