Scales for teachers' assessment of inhibition and security seeking in kindergarten children.
For young children separation from their primary caregivers can give rise to feelings of emotional insecurity, which are manifested by inhibition of behavior and seeking security from a substitute caregiver. The present study examined the quality of two new scales, the Inhibition Scale and the Security Seeking Scale, developed for teachers' assessment of inhibition and security-seeking behaviors. Participants were 121 kindergarten children. Reliability and short-term stability of both scales proved to be good. Relationships with four major dimensions of personality, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability, were examined by means of teachers' judgements on the School Behavior Checklist Revised. The validity of the Inhibition Scale and the Security Seeking Scale was supported by the findings. Scores on both scales appeared to be negatively related to those on Extraversion and Emotional Stability. The negative association with scores on Extraversion was stronger for scores on the Inhibition Scale than for those on the Security Seeking Scale. Neither scale was related to the nonemotional dimension Conscientiousness. In addition, scores on both the Inhibition and Security Seeking Scale appeared negatively related to the time passed since entry into kindergarten.
Koomen
H M
HM
Vrije Universiteit, Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. HMY.Koomen@psy.vu.nl
Hoeksma
J B
JB
Keller
H F
HF
de Jong
P F
PF
D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D002666:Psychology, Child; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012449:Safety; D013663:Teaching