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Minnesota Preschool Affect Rating Scales: development, reliability, and validity
E G Shapiro1, J T McPhee, A A Abbott
1Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
Insights
Researchers developed the Minnesota Preschool Affect Rating Scales (MN-PARS) to objectively measure preschooler emotions. This tool aids in assessing treatment impacts on children's emotional states and self-regulation.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Assessing emotional and temperamental changes in preschool children due to illness or treatment is challenging due to limited objective measurement tools.
- Existing methods lack the sensitivity required for longitudinal studies tracking emotional development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a sensitive and objective measurement tool for assessing the emotional state and temperament of preschool children.
- To create a scale suitable for longitudinal research, particularly for children undergoing medical treatments.
Main Methods:
- Developed the Minnesota Preschool Affect Rating Scales (MN-PARS) using video-taped play sessions of 179 children with febrile seizures and 85 controls.
- Utilized behaviorally anchored ratings on 12 scales, subjected to factor analysis to identify key emotional dimensions.
- Assessed interrater reliability, split-half reliability, and initial concurrent validity of the developed scales.
Main Results:
- Factor analysis identified three primary factors: Negative Affect, Positive Affect, and Self-regulation.
- Additional individual scales included Dependency and Activity Level.
- The MN-PARS demonstrated reliable ratings and initial evidence of concurrent validity.
Conclusions:
- The MN-PARS provides a reliable and objective method for measuring emotional expression and self-regulation in preschool children.
- These scales are valuable for longitudinal studies, including those examining the effects of medications like phenobarbital on children with febrile seizures.
- The MN-PARS can be adapted for various research contexts requiring objective assessment of child behavior and emotional states.
Abstract:
Assessing the impact of disease and treatment of the emotional state and temperament of preschool children has been limited by the lack of sensitive and objective measurement techniques. To construct such a measure for longitudinal use, a sample of 179 children with febrile seizures and 85 normal children were used to develop the Minnesota Preschool Affect Rating Scales (MN-PARS). Video-taped play sessions were a source of behaviorally anchored ratings on 12 scales. Factor analysis yielded three factors of Negative Affect, Positive Affect, and Self-regulation with additional individual scales of Dependency and Activity Level. These scales and factors yield reliable ratings, as measured by interrater agreement and split-half techniques, as well as initial evidence of concurrent validity. Although they were developed for measuring the behavioral effects of phenobarbital on children with febrile seizures, these scales provide an objective means of measuring emotional expression and self-regulation useful for other studies.
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