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Validation of the Chinese Revision of Emotional and Behavioral Screener among Preschoolers (4–7 years old)

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Abstract

The study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese revision of the Emotional and Behavioral Screener (EBS), and to extend its application to preschoolers (4–7 years old). Teachers and parents of 216 preschoolers (age M = 5.11, SD = 0.9) were invited to complete the EBS, and some of the teachers were also asked to complete the Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (PreBERS) (N = 80) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ) (N = 90). Results of confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the original single-factor model of the EBS didn’t fit the data well. Based on the results of a series of exploratory factor analyses, we proposed a two-factor model instead, representing externalizing and internalizing problems respectively. The Chinese revision demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability, inter-rater reliability, convergent validity and divergent validity. All these evidences supported its use among Chinese preschoolers to identify those who will be at risk of suffering from emotional and behavioral disturbances.

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Funding

This study was funded by Jiangsu Province Education Science “The Twelfth Five-Year Plan” project (No. C-b/2013/02/029), Project of Philosophy and Social Sciences from the Education Department, Jiangsu Province (No. 2013SJB880052), and Foundation of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Education of the PRC (No.16YJA190003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China

    Lisong Zhang & Zhongquan Li

  2. Nanjing Normal University of Special Education, No.1 Shennong Road, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210038, China

    Lisong Zhang & Kan He

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  1. Lisong Zhang
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  2. Zhongquan Li
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Correspondence to Zhongquan Li.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Zhang, L., Li, Z. & He, K. Validation of the Chinese Revision of Emotional and Behavioral Screener among Preschoolers (4–7 years old). J Child Fam Stud 27, 771–779 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0940-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0940-0

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