II. Behavioral Assessments and Regulations: Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS)

Background

Self-regulatory skills (sometimes termed learning-related social skills) help children direct and control their attention and behavior. Given the importance of these self-regulatory skills for engagement and learning in school, it is critical to have psychometrically valid and reliable assessments. Teacher ratings of self-regulation capture children’s ability to independently apply their behavioral and affective self-regulatory abilities across context and time (Lee & McDonough, 2015; Toplak et al., 2013). This may provide a more accurate picture of the child compared to for example, a one-off direct assessment conducted by an adult unknown to the child. One such teacher-rating measure, the Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS; Bronson et al., 1990), was developed to assess children’s classroom goal-oriented behavior and self-regulation strategies used in academic and social settings. The CBRS is a 32-item scale representing two domains: Social Behavior capturing interpersonal skills (14 items), and Mastery Behavior capturing learning related self-regulation skills (18 items). Existing literature provides limited information about the psychometric properties of the CBRS in the Singapore context. The aim of the current study is to investigate the structure of the CBRS in a larger Singaporean sample using multilevel factor analysis.

Abstract

Behavioral regulation supports children to control their cognitive and emotional skills and participate fully in classroom learning and interactions. Teacher ratings are frequently used to collect data but are highly susceptible to the teacher’s response bias, meaning much child level variance is attributable to the teacher level. Multilevel modelling techniques are commonly used to assess the psychometric properties of measures at different levels by disaggregating within- and between-teacher variation in student behaviors. In this study, we attempt to identify the factor structure at each level using teacher ratings on the Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS). The sample of 1,375 preschool children (49.2% males) was drawn from a longitudinal study in Singapore. The teacher ratings of these children were collected at three time points (average age at Time 1 was 58.5 months, Time 2 was 69.8 months, and Time 3 was 80.9 months). Using multilevel exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a three-factor model at the within level and a two-factor model at the between level best fit the data. At the within level, the three factors were identified as basic interpersonal skills, advanced interpersonal skills, and learning related social skills. The three factors showed good internal consistency and differential correlates. The two factors at the between level may be related to teacher and classroom characteristics. This study provides empirical support for (a) differential factor structures of CBRS at the within and between levels; and (b) two distinct interpersonal skills. Future studies should aim at exploring the sources of between level variability.

Scales and Subscales

The Singapore validated version of the CBRS consists of three factors: Basic Interpersonal Social Skills (5 items); Advanced Interpersonal Social Skills (3 items); Learning-related Social Skills (12 items).

Funding Information

Funded by Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Education Research Funding Programme (OER 09/14 RB; Singapore Kindergarten Impact Project) and administered by the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

References

Bronson, M. B., Goodson, B. D., Layzer, J. I., & Love, J. M. (1990). Child behavior rating scale. Cambridge MA: Abt Associates.

Lim, S. M., Rodger, S., & Brown, T. (2010). Validation of Child Behavior Rating Scale in Singapore (Part 1): Rasch analysis. Hong Kong Journal of Occupational Therapy, 20(2), 52–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1569-18611170004-3

Citation

Chan, W.T., Bull, R., Ng, E. L., Waschl, N., & Poon, K. K. (2021). Validation of the Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS) using multilevel factor analysis. Psychological                Assessment, 33 (11), 1138-1151. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/pas0001075

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