Measuring social and emotional learning skills of preschool children in Croatia : initial validation of the SSIS SEL Brief Scales

Although there is increased interest in social and emotional competence and mental health in Croatia, there are currently limited measurement options available for early childhood settings. Thus, the SSIS SEL Brief Scales (SSIS SELb), an efficient measure of social and emotional learning competencie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The international journal of emotional education 2024-04, Vol.16 (1), p.50-69
Main Authors: Tatalović Vorkapića, Sanja, Anthony, Christopher J., Elliott, Stephen N., Grazzani, Ilaria, Cavioni, Valeria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Age differences
Childhood
Children & youth
Collaboration
Competency based learning
Emotional intelligence
Gender
Measurement
Measures
Mental health
Preschool children
Preschool education
preschool education
social and emotional learning
croatia
ssis sel brief scales
validation
Primary Education
Quantitative psychology
Ratings & rankings
Regional variations
Reliability
Resilience
Skills
Social & emotional learning
Social skills
Students
Teachers
Validity
Young Children
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Summary:Although there is increased interest in social and emotional competence and mental health in Croatia, there are currently limited measurement options available for early childhood settings. Thus, the SSIS SEL Brief Scales (SSIS SELb), an efficient measure of social and emotional learning competencies developed in the United States, was translated to Croatian and used by 49 early childhood educators to rate a sample of 685 children (average age 4.3 years) from several counties in Croatia. Regarding measurement invariance, the final model cohered substantially with a CASEL-inspired framework. Overall reliability was also high especially for the SEL Composite (α = .94), with notably lower reliability for subscales. Regarding cross-group concurrent validity, concurrent coefficients were largely similar across age and gender, but there were regional differences in validity. Likewise, validity correlations were in line with expectations, with moderate relationships observed between the SSIS SEL Composite and Child and Youth Resilience Measure scores. In sum, the high level of reliability provided a foundation for applied and research usage of the Croatian SSIS SELb, although further validation research will continue to be necessary before widescale implementation. Limitations to the study are discussed and also point to needed additional research before utilizing the Croatian translated SSIS SELb for applied decisions with young children.
ISSN:2073-7629
2073-7629
DOI:10.56300/RRMN9191