Child Self-Regulation and Behavior Questionnaire and Assessment of Executive Functions Scale: Adaptation Study for 4–6-Year-Old Children

Year 2025, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 51 - 69

Ezgi Dülger Ceylan , Asiye İvrendi

https://doi.org/10.30900/kafkasegt.1506308

Abstract

This research aimed to adapt two measurement tools assessing self-regulation and executive function skills in children aged 4–6 years into the Turkish language. The first scale, "Child Self-Regulation and Behavior Questionnaire" (CSBQ) developed by Howard and Melhuish (2017), assesses children's self-regulation and social development skills based on teachers' opinions. The second sale is the "Assessment of Sensory Processing and Executive Functions in Childhood" (EPYFEI) (Romero-Ayuso et al., 2018). This scale aims to determine the sensory processing and executive function skills of children between the ages of 3 and 11 based on parental opinions. A total of 454 children aged 4-6 attending preschool and kindergarten education in a province in southwestern Türkiye participated in the study. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to evaluate the construct validity of the CSBQ and EPYFEI scales. EFA results of the CSBQ yielded three subscales: cognitive self-regulation, behavioral and emotional self-regulation, and sociability. CFA results showed adequate fit indices for the CSBQ's 15-item, three-factor structure. Additionally, the analysis for concurrent validity revealed a positive and significant relationship between the scale and the Child Behavior Rating Scale. The internal consistency coefficient for the total scale was .84, and for the subscalees, it ranged from .74 to .80. Regarding EPYFEI, the item total correlations of the sensory processing subscale were below .30, and the item variance was below .50. This yielded the removal of the "sensory processing" subscale, and hence the scale was adapted into Turkish as "Assessment of Executive Functions in Childhood" (AEFC). EFA results for the AEFC revealed three factors (executive attention and working memory, emotional and behavioral self-regulation, and inhibitory control). The results of the CFA indicated that the scale's fit indices, consisting of 14 items and three factors, were sufficient. The internal consistency coefficient for the entire AEFC scale was .83, with the subscales ranging from .72 to .84. These findings demonstrated that children's self-regulation skills and social development utilizing CSBQ and executive function skills using the AEFC can be measured validly and reliably.

Keywords

Self-regulation, social development, executive function skills

Ethical Statement

In this study, we declare that the rules stated in the "Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive" are complied with and that we do not take any of the actions based on "Actions Against Scientific Research and Publication Ethics". At the same time, we declare that there is no conflict of interest between the authors, which all authors contribute to the study, and that all the responsibility belongs to the article authors in case of all ethical violations. Permissions were taken from the Pamukkale University Ethics Committee (The date of meeting and decision number: 2021/10; The date of decision: 02.06.2021). Data generated or analyzed during this study should be available from the authors on request.

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