Speci. Screening for children’s emotional and behavioral problems: description and psychometric data
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Abstract
The goal of this work is to describe the “SPECI. Screening for Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems” (Garaigordobil and Maganto, 2012) and to contribute the psychometric data of its reliability and validity. The SPECI assesses emotional and behavioral problems in children between 5 and 12 years of age, specifically 10 problems (withdrawal, somatization, anxiety, dependent children, thought problems, attention-hyperactivity, disruptive behavior, academic performance, depression, violent behavior), which are rated by the child’s teacher. Each category of problems is defined by a label that identifies the problem, preceded by adjectives and/or short phrases that describe the most common behaviors of each problem. It is an instrument for early identification with methodological rigor that provides a global rating of the level of emotional and behavioral problems displayed by the child, and it also offers information about internalizing and externalizing problems. The psychometric study was carried out with a sample of 1,272 participants aged between 5 and 12 years, including a nonclinical (n = 937) and a clinical sample (n = 335). The differential analyses show significantly higher scores in the boys in all the problems (except for withdrawal and somatization, where no sex differences were found) and score stability with increasing age (there were only differences between extreme ages, with higher scores in older children, at age 11-12 years). Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was adequate (? = .82). Factor validity identified two problem scales, internalizing and externalizing, which explain 39.92 and 13.57% of the variance. Criterial validity was confirmed because the participants of the clinical sample (emotional and intellectual problems) had significantly higher scores in all the problems when compared with the nonclinical sample. The results support the reliability and validity of the instrument, and confirm it as a robust screening tool with adequate levels of sensitivity and specificity.
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