Dimensions of Depressive Symptoms in Young Children: Factor Analysis of the Preschool Feelings Checklist-Scale

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• The Preschool Feelings Checklist-Scale (PFC-S) is a caregiver-report measure for early childhood depressive symptom severity.
• Understanding the underlying structure of the PFC-S is crucial for accurate assessment of depressive symptoms in young children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the dimensionality of the Preschool Feelings Checklist-Scale (PFC-S).
• To determine if a one-factor model or a multidimensional structure best represents the PFC-S data.
• To establish the reliability and validity of any identified factor structure.

Main Methods:

• Caregivers of 450 children (ages 3-8) completed the PFC-S and measures of emotion regulation, expression, and self-reported depressive symptoms.
• Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test a one-factor structure.
• Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to identify an alternative structure.

Main Results:

• A one-factor structure did not adequately fit the PFC-S data.
• Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure: social/behavioral anhedonia, emotional/behavioral dysregulation, and excessive guilt/sadness.
• This three-factor structure demonstrated configural and scalar invariance across age groups and sexes.
• Correlations supported preliminary construct validity.

Conclusions:

• The PFC-S appears to have a multidimensional structure, comprising three distinct factors.
• This finding enhances the understanding of early childhood depressive symptoms and the utility of the PFC-S.
• The identified factor structure provides a more nuanced approach to assessing depressive symptomatology in young children.