title: Assessment of children's emotional adjustment: construction and validation of a new instrument.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present study describes the Children's Emotional Adjustment Scale (CEAS), a 47-item parent-reported scale designed to capture children's emotional functioning on four continuous dimensions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A large community sample of mothers of children (n = 606) aged 6-13 years was used to examine the psychometric properties of the CEAS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized four-factor structure of the instrument: (1) temper control; (2) anxiety control; (3) mood repair; and (4) social assertiveness. Cronbach's alphas for the factors were consistently above 0.90, and convergent validity of the factors was satisfactory with maternal ratings of child psychopathology. Children rated by their mothers as having emotional problems in the clinical range on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire had significantly lower scores on the CEAS scales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CEAS is a psychometrically sound instrument, covering healthy emotional adjustment as well as maladjustment. The scale might prove to be valuable in the assessment and screening of behaviours underlying child psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Ö
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Thorlacius
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gudmundsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D000066498:Emotional Adjustment; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: adjustment; anxiety; depression; emotion regulation; emotional competence; prevention