Abstract:

This study was conducted for the purpose of testing validity and reliability of the "Effort Control Questionnaire", which is intended to measure the effort control of 48-72 months-old children enrolled in preschool institutions, developed by Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey and Fisher (2001). The scale was administered to 50 teachers of 350 children (174 girls and 176 boys) who were ranging from 48 to 72-month-old. In order to test the psychometric characteristics of the scale, language equivalence, reliability and validity analyses were conducted. According to the findings of language equivalence analyses, there were statistically significant positive correlations between scores of Turkish and English forms (p<.01) and there were no significant differences between them. Within the scope of reliability, internal consistency, item-total, item-remaining, item discrimination, and test-retest analyses were conducted. While the internal consistency coefficient of the scale was .94; the internal consistency coefficients of the subscales ranged from .75 to .91. The findings of item analyses for scale and subscales were also statistically significant. In order to test the test-retest reliability of the scale and subscales, correlation analysis was conducted. According to findings, test-retest correlations of the scale and subscales were also statistically significant. Afterwards, a series of analyses was conducted to ensure content, construct, and criterion validity of the scale. The scores obtained from the "Children Ego Resiliency Scale" (Önder and Gülay-Ogelman, 2011) were administered as a means of criterion validity. In parallel to the literature, a statistically significant relationship was obtained between the scores of children on the two scales (r = .53, p<.01). Findings indicated that Turkish version of "Effortful Control Questionnaire" has satisfactory psychometric characteristics and is a reliable and valid tool for teachers to assess children's effortful control.

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