Portuguese validation of the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale (SCBE-30)

Abstract

Aim: The Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale (SCBE-30) is a 30-item questionnaire designed to assess preschoolers' behavioral problems (externalizing and internalizing) and social competence. It is widely used in the developmental research. This study aims to contribute to the adaptation and validation of the Portuguese version of the teachers' short form of the SCBE-30 (Psychol. Assess. 8:369-777, 1996). Method: Participants were 361 children from 3 to 6 years old whose preschool teachers completed the SCBE-30. For external validation purposes children completed arithmetic and theory of mind tasks, and parents completed a socio-demographic questionnaire. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis did not confirm the 10-item-subscale solution of the original SCBE-30 version. Instead, a five-item-subscale was found as a better solution. Discussion: The reduced 15-item version replicates the three-factor structure, shows good psychometric properties and meets external validation criteria. Further research should focus on the invariance of the factor structure of the SCBE-30 between cultures.

Convergent and Discriminant Validities of SCBE-30 Questionnaire Using Correlated Trait–Correlated Method Minus One

“…Girls (more than boys) were described as more social competent, while boys (more than girls) were described as more aggressive. These results are consistent with literature ( LaFreniere et al, 2002 ; Diener and Kim, 2004 ; Torres et al, 2014 ; Vasquez-Echeverria et al, 2016 ). Parents and teachers may be more aware of boys’ misbehavior, and more tolerant with girls, they could expect boys having more problem behaviors ( Berg-Nielsen et al, 2012 ) and girls to display more socially competent behaviors ( Birch and Ladd, 1998 ; Coolahan et al, 2000 ).…”

“…This might be due to a translation issues, raters could be linking Portuguese word "preocupa-se" more in a sense of "being thoughtful, " which is more related to SC. Same word was used by Vasquez-Echeverria et al (2016) and item was excluded due to low factor loading. Brazilian study (Brigas and Dessen, 2002) used "desasossegado, " item was also excluded as in other non-English studies (e.g., Butovskaya and Demianovitsch, 2002;Sette et al, 2014).…”

“…Raters could be reporting how frequently child is involved in conflicts rather than the ability to negotiate solutions with others (even if not frequently involved in conflicts). Vasquez-Echeverria et al (2016) also excluded considering it distinct from the rest of SC items.…”

“…Presenting good internal consistency across different countries, 0.87 for SC, 0.88 for AA, and 0.84 for AW ( LaFreniere et al, 2002 ). It has been widely used in research, educational and clinical settings with demonstrated validity across cultural settings ( Zupancic et al, 2000 ; Chen and Jiang, 2002 ; Kotler and McMahon, 2002 ; LaFreniere et al, 2002 ; Dumas et al, 2011 ; Klyce et al, 2011 ; Sette et al, 2014 ; Vasquez-Echeverria et al, 2016 ; Bárrig and Parco, 2017 ). However, most studies used only one rater (usually teacher) and few compared teacher with parents (mostly mother).…”

“…Literature points some differences although to our knowledge only Munzer et al (2018) evaluated MI. In most studies girls are rated higher than boys on SC and lower on AA ( LaFreniere et al, 2002 ; Masataka, 2002 ; Venet et al, 2002 ; Torres et al, 2014 ; Vasquez-Echeverria et al, 2016 ). No sex differences we reported regarding AW, except for two studies ( Chen and Jiang, 2002 ; Blair et al, 2004 ) where boys were rated higher by their teachers.…”