The Pre-School Activities Inventory: A standardized assessment of gender role in children.

Abstract

The PreSchool Activities Inventory (PSAI) is a new psychometric scale for the assessment of gender role behavior in young children. Its design and test specification are reported, and the piloting and item analysis are described. Evidence of reliability is given, and several validation studies are reported, as are data on age standardization and norming. Some applications of the PSAI are considered. A number of studies have demonstrated that children show gender-stereotyped toy and activity choices from as early as 18 months of age and that this pattern is well established by 3 years old (

Anxiety, Sex-Linked Behaviors, and Digit Ratios (2D:4D)

“…In previous research with adult populations, the sex difference in PSAI scores has generally shown a very large effect size (d = 2.65-3.25) (Alexander, 2006;Hines et al, 2003). The PSAI also shows moderate test-retest reliability for each sex (boys -r = .62, girls -r = .66) and moderate to high split-half reliability for each sex (boys -r = .66, girls -r = .80) (Golombok & Rust, 1993). In addition, PSAI scores correlate moderately with teacher ratings of gendered behavior (boys -r = .37, girls -r = .48) (Golombok & Rust, 1993).…”

“…The PSAI also shows moderate test-retest reliability for each sex (boys -r = .62, girls -r = .66) and moderate to high split-half reliability for each sex (boys -r = .66, girls -r = .80) (Golombok & Rust, 1993). In addition, PSAI scores correlate moderately with teacher ratings of gendered behavior (boys -r = .37, girls -r = .48) (Golombok & Rust, 1993).…”

“…The BAI has shown high internal consistency (α = .85-.94) and test-retest reliability (r = .75). It also appears to be moderately correlated with other widely used measures of anxiety, such as the State-Trait Pre-School Activities Inventory-The Pre-School Activities Inventory (PSAI; Golombok & Rust, 1993) is a 24-item measure assessing childhood play preferences. Participants were instructed to respond according to their recollections of their preferences in early childhood (Hines et al, 2003).…”

Hormones and borderline personality features

“…The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1981), the Pre-School Activities Inventory (PSAI; Golombok & Rust, 1993), and the Occupation, Activities, and Traits-Attitudes and Personal Measure (OAT-AM and OAT-PM; Liben & Bigler, 2002) measured typical gender role behavior. Briefly, the BSRI consists of 60 items and two scales measuring psychological masculinity (e.g., "independent" and "assertive") and femininity ("affectionate" and "softspoken"), such that higher scores on a scale indicate a stronger endorsement of that personality dimension.…”

Development of the Trauma Play Scale: Comparison of children manifesting a history of interpersonal trauma with a normative sample.

“…The collection of normative statistics provides data for the testing of the validity of the instrument (Cicchetti, 1994), determines the effectiveness of the instrument to discriminate between the target and normal populations (Golombok & Rust, 1993), and increases the robustness and reliability of the measurement (Friedrich, Gramsch, Damon, Hewitt, Koverola, Lang, Woplfe, & Broughton, 1992). Discriminant validity provides a context for the interpretation of scale scores (Malic, Ivnik, Smith, Tangalos, Peterson, Kokmen, & Kurland, 1992;Sharma, Botzet, Sechrist, Arthur, & Winters, 2006), and enables researchers and practitioners to make meaningful and valid interpretations of within-and betweengroup comparisons (Apolone & Masconi, 1998;Cicchetti;Cooke, et al, 2006;Gandek & Ware, 1998;Golombok & Rust).…”