Development of Functional Cognitive Scale for Children Aged 7-12 Years: A Neglected Domain in Pakistan

Abstract

Several tools have been developed in the west on cognitive and other developmental skills in children. However, in Pakistan, outdated versions of western measures are used to assess the abilities of children. The current study aimed to develop and assess the Functional Cognitive Scale (FCS) for children of age 7-12 years on basis of local norms. A sample of 377 children with mean age = 9.60, SD=1.61 was selected through multistage sampling technique from different public schools of the city of Lahore, Pakistan. FCS was constructed by extracting items from open-ended interviews with parents, teachers, reviewing the literature and curriculum, consulting the experts, and carrying out series of pilot testing. Factor Analysis using maximum likelihood and oblique rotation extracted two sub-factors namely simple cognitive skills and complex cognitive skills. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good fit model with a similar factor structure as retained by exploratory factor analysis. FCS was found to have 20-items with sound psychometric properties α= .86, split-half .89, test-retest reliability=.82 with good convergent validity with Wechsler memory subscales. Results are discussed in terms of the need of developing the scale for measuring the functional cognitive abilities of children in their cultural context. Keywords: Cognitive Skills, psychometric study, local norms, school, 7-12 years

Comparing self‐esteem discrepancies in Pakistan and Canada

“…A modesty interpretation might suggest, for instance, that Pakistanis expressed minimal self‐esteem discrepancies only because blatant self‐satisfaction is not valued in Pakistan. Indeed, we speculated that differences in religiosity between Pakistani and Canadians might prompt more a self‐critical mindset, encouraging modesty (Saleem & Mahmood, 2011; Stewart et al., 1999). Such religiosity‐induced modesty might reduce self‐esteem striving while simultaneously improving self‐esteem levels more broadly as a benefit of greater religiosity (Khaledian et al., 2017; Suhail & Chaudhry, 2004).…”

“…The dominant religion of Pakistan is Islam (Pew Research Center, 2012), which remains deeply engrained in Pakistanis' sense of self (Abdel‐Khalek, 2011; Ghorbani et al., 2010; Khaledian et al., 2017), whereas the dominant religion of Canadians is Christianity, followed closely by “none” (Plecher, 2019). Although religiosity is positively associated with self‐esteem (Khaledian et al., 2017; Suhail & Chaudhry, 2004), Islam emphasizes humble self‐portrayals and promotes modesty along with a critical lens through which to view the self (Saleem & Mahmood, 2011; Stewart et al., 1999). This interaction may contribute to the patterns we observed in Study 1, namely Pakistanis' enhanced self‐esteem but a lack of desire for greater self‐esteem (i.e., relatively low self‐esteem discrepancies) compared to Canadians.…”

“…In contrast, Pakistani culture appears to express scepticism about the value of positive self‐esteem – the Urdu words closest to “high self‐esteem” include “selfishness,” “egotism,” and “arrogance,” and others (Saleem & Mahmood, 2011). Thus, Pakistanis may believe less in the benefits of high self‐esteem than do Canadians.…”