Social‐emotional well‐being and resilience of children in early childhood settings – PERIK: an empirically based observation scale for practitioners

Abstract

Compared with the traditional focus on developmental problems, research on positive development is relatively new. Empirical research in children's well‐being has been scarce. The aim of this study was to develop a theoretically and empirically based instrument for practitioners to observe and assess preschool children's well‐being in early childhood settings. The analysis of preschool teachers' ratings yields six dimensions of social‐emotional well‐being: (1) making contact/social performance, (2) self control/thoughtfulness, (3) self‐assertiveness, (4) emotional stability/coping with stress, (5) task orientation, (6) pleasure in exploration. Composite scales were constructed. PERIK consists of six scales of six items each. The scales differentiate in both the upper and lower range and despite their brevity have good psychometric qualities. The instrument was published together with a booklet containing examples of how PERIK observations can be employed in practical work with children.

Keywords:

• observation scale
• social‐emotional well‐being
• resilience
• early childhood settings

Notes

1. Traditionally in Germany ‘kindergarten’ is for children from three to six.

2. Exploratory factor analysis revealed 14 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. An eight‐factor solution was selected because it best satisfied standard criteria for retention and because this solution was psychologically meaningful and compatible with existing theoretical models. With reference to Guadagnoli and Velicer's (1988) criteria, the first six factors could be substantially interpreted.

3. For reasons of space we did not include the whole matrix of factor loadings; the complete matrix will be sent upon request.