Students' socio-emotional adaptation: assessment of a new instrument in Concepción city

Abstract

This study illustrates psychometrical findings from a 2007 instrument applied to measure socio-emotional adaptation in children over 10 years old. An item-evaluation of the socio-emotional adaptation of these students is also included. This scalar instrument was developed in prior qualitative research performed by the UdeC Talent Program team of psychologists. It was applied to a sample of 1010 students pre-selected by their teachers as gifted student, grades 5-11, in four cohorts from 2007 to 2010. Factorial analysis indicated three factors slightly different from the original three subscales; four out of 27 items had to be eliminated, reducing to 23 the final number of items in the questionnaire. Since scale reliability was high and the validity indicators were adequate, the instrument has been shown to satisfactorily measure children's socio-emotional adaptation to the Chilean social reality. The socio-emotional adaptation observed was moderately high.