How I feel: a self-report measure of emotional arousal and regulation for children.
This article details the development and preliminary validation of a multidimensional self-report measure of emotion for 8- to 12-year-old children--the How I Feel (HIF). Item generation and selection occurred via 2 pilot administrations (ns = 250 and 378, respectively). Ten experts provided data on content validity. Exploratory factor analysis and subsequent confirmatory factor analysis with samples of 406, 524, 349, and 349 3rd-through 6th-grade children supported a 3-factor model, including the frequency and intensity of (a) positive emotion, (b) negative emotion, and (c) positive and negative emotion control. Results showed moderate longitudinal stability for 120 children over 2 years. Concurrent validity was established. The HIF can be useful in understanding the interplay between arousal and control in social-emotional adjustment in school-age children.
Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, USA. tedra.walden@vanderbilt.edu
Tedra A
TA
Walden
Vicki S
VS
Harris
Thomas F
TF
Catron
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution