Validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers Second Edition / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To revise the Chinese version of Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschool-ers,Second Edition (DECA-P2 ),and assess its validity and reliability.Methods:Totally 608 children aged 3 -5 years were rated by their teachers with the Chinese version of DECA-P2 and two criterion scales,which included the Chinese version of Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale,and Social Competence and Behavior Evalua-tion Scale-30.Data of 570 were valid.After identifying valid items using item analysis,exploratory factor analysis was performed for half of all samples.Confirmatory factor analysis was also conducted with another half samples.Moreover,the present study tested criterion-related validity,internal consistency reliability and split-half re-liability of the Chinese version of DECA-P2.Results:Through the exploratory factor analysis,the obtained structure of protective factors was the same as the original scale,accounting for 59.82%of the variance.The results of con-firmatory factor analysis achieved the standard of psychometrics (χ2/df=2.50,RMESA=0.07,CFI=0.91,IFI=0.91).Generally,each subscale had significant correlation with the two criterion scales (r=-0.21 ~0.80). Be-sides,the Cronbach αcoefficients of all subscales were between 0.80 and 0.93,and the split-half reliabilities of them were between 0.79 and 0.89.Conclusion:The Chinese version of DECA-P2 has acceptable psychometric quality and can be applied to evaluate resilience for children aged from 3 to 5 years in China.