Teacher Questionnaire Compared With Observational Data on Effects of Sex and Sibling Status on Preschool Behaviour

Abstract

Teacher questionnaires are used to assess children's social behaviour in a variety of contexts. Here questionnaire data are compared with observational data for agreement: (i) over sex and sibling status group differences; and (ii) over individual rank orders on more specific behavioural items. A principal component analysis of the teachers' ratings yielded four components--sociability, aggressiveness, perseverance and calmness. Boys were seen as more sociable and aggressive, girls more persevering. Firstborns were more sociable, aggressive and calm than secondborns, who were seen as more persevering than firstborns. Some differences between children with brothers and with sisters, and between children with same-sex and different-sex sibs were also found. These differences were in general in harmony with the observational data. Comparisons of questionnaire items with observational data on the same children indicated (a) that for the majority of items there was good agreement; (b) that agreement was better for the more behaviourally defined questions; (c) that teachers rated more on the children's behaviour with their peers than on their behaviour with the teachers; (d) that agreement was better at 42 months, soon after school entry, than at 50 months; and (e) that teachers' assessments may have been more influenced by the child's interactional style with themselves at the later age.

Screening for Behaviour Problems in Nurseries: The Reliability and Validity of the Preschool Behaviour Checklist

“…SCREENING FOR BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS IN NURSERIES 9 VALIDITY Direct observations have not often been used to examine the validity of scales which describe overall adjustment, though they have been used to validate measures of specific behaviours such as overactivity (Campbell, Endman & Bernfeld, 1977), helping (Severy & Davies, 1971), prosocial behaviour (Weir & Duveen, 1981) and social competence (Connolly & Doyle, 1981). Close agreement has also been found between teacher's ratings of general social behaviour and detailed observations (Hinde, Easton & Meller, 1984).…”

Parents' and teachers' perceptions of personality traits of young children: Sex differences1, cross‐cultural comparisons and relations with observed behaviour

“…To cite some earlier data obtained in one of the preschools used in the current study, Roper & Hinde (1979) found that a factor analysis of observational data yielded a different structure from that of questionnaire data, and argued that this was a consequence of the implicit personality structure of the teachers. In a later paper, Hinde, Easton & Meller (1984) obtained evidence about the nature of some of the biases. For instance, the teachers tended to rate the younger children (42 months) more on their behaviour with peers than on their behaviour with the teachers themselves, but the latter became more important at 50 months.…”

Διαφοροποιητικοί Παράγοντες Σχολικής Αποτελεσματικότητας Που Αφορούν Σε Εκπαιδευτικούς Και Μαθητές Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης

“…Οη πξνζπάζεηεο γηα δηάγλσζε θαη αμηνιφγεζε ηεο ςπρηθήο δηαηαξαρήο ζηα παηδηά πξνυπνζέηνπλ ηε ρξήζε πνιιαπιψλ κέζσλ αμηνιφγεζεο (Kolko & Kazdin, 1993) θαη ζπιινγή δεδνκέλσλ ζε δηαθνξεηηθέο ρξνληθέο ζηηγκέο (Bradenburg, Friedman, & Silver, 1990). Tφζν νη γνλείο, φζν θαη νη εθπαηδεπηηθνί ζεσξνχληαη ζεκαληηθνί θνξείο πιεξνθφξεζεο γηα ηελ αμηνιφγεζε ησλ δπλαηνηήησλ θαη ησλ δπζθνιηψλ ζηα παηδηά ζην ζρνιείν (Hinde, Easton, & Meller, 1984). Oη απηναλαθνξέο ησλ παηδηψλ έρνπλ ρξεζηκνπνηεζεί κε θεηδψ, θαζψο έρεη παξαηεξεζεί ρακειή ζπκθσλία κε ηηο θξίζεηο ησλ γνλέσλ ή ησλ εθπαηδεπηηθψλ (Phares, Compas, & Howell, 1989).…”