Validation of a questionnaire on behaviour academic competence among Chinese preschool children.
A brief Chinese parent-or-teacher scale gives one reliable academic-behavior score that predicts better thinking skills and fewer problems in preschoolers with or without delays.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked parents and teachers to fill out a short form about preschoolers’ classroom skills.
The form listed everyday academic behaviors like following directions and finishing tasks.
All children lived in Hong Kong and spoke Chinese; some had developmental delays and some did not.
What they found
One clear “academic competence” factor showed up in both parent and teacher answers.
Higher scores on this factor matched stronger thinking skills and fewer behavior problems.
The form proved reliable and valid for Chinese preschoolers with or without delays.
How this fits with other research
Chiu et al. (2017) used the same Rasch-style check on a family-quality scale for Taiwanese families. Both studies show parent questionnaires can work when language and culture match.
Houwen et al. (2019) looked at motor, language, and executive-function profiles in preschoolers. Their three-group result hints that one score alone may miss detail; Cynthia’s single academic score is quick but should be paired with broader screens.
Older papers like Koegel et al. (1992) failed to find a clear factor structure for social-intelligence models. Cynthia’s success suggests that keeping questions concrete and tied to classroom tasks helps the math line up.
Why it matters
You now have a free, two-minute form that parents or teachers can complete in Chinese. Use it during intake to flag children who may need extra support before formal testing. Pair it with play-based or motor screens to catch kids Suzanne’s profiles would place in the “mixed-risk” group.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire on academic competence behaviour for use with Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. A parent version and a teacher version were developed and evaluated. The participants included 457 children (230 boys and 227 girls) aged four and five years old, their preschool teachers and their parents. Besides, 44 children (39 boys and 5 girls) with developmental disabilities were recruited. The children were assessed on the cognitive domain of the Preschool Development Assessment Scale (PDAS). Their parents completed a questionnaire on academic competence behaviour, as well as the Strength and Difficulty Scale (SDQ). Their teachers completed the questionnaire on academic competence behaviour. Rasch analysis results provided support for the unidimensionality of the parent and teacher versions of the scale, with one item deleted. The parent and teacher versions of the revised scale correlated positively with the cognitive domain of the PDAS and the prosocial scale of the SDQ and negatively with SDQ total problem behaviour score. Children with developmental delay were assigned lower scores by their parents and teachers, compared with preschool children, on the revised versions of the academic competence behaviour scale. Reliability estimates (Cronbach's alpha) of the parent and teacher versions of this revised scale were above .80. The results suggested that the two versions of academic competence behaviour scales were promising instruments for the assessment of academic competence behaviour among Chinese preschool children.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.03.024