2022/09/26 by Nicolas L. Camacho, Carina H. Fowler, Michael S. Gaffrey · 1 voice
Psychology · Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Early Childhood Education and Development #Infant Health and Development
paper · pdf · doi:10.31234/osf.io/29qh8
openalex publication_date 2022/09/26 · openalex created_date 2022/09/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
The current study is an investigation of the dimensionality of the Preschool Feelings Checklist–Scale (PFC-S), a caregiver-report questionnaire of early childhood depressive symptom severity. Caregivers of 450 young children, ages 3-8 years (M = 5.62, SD = 0.95; 49% Female; 7% Hispanic; 66% white), completed the PFC-S and questionnaires on child emotion regulation and expression and self-reported depressive symptomatology. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a one-factor structure did not adequately fit the current PFC-S data. Using exploratory factor analysis, a three-factor structure emerged as interpretable and structurally sound, yielding reliable factors related to Social and Behavioral Anhedonia, Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation, and Excessive Guilt and Sadness. This factor structure showed configural and scalar invariance across preschool- and early middle childhood aged children as well as children assigned male and female sex at birth. Correlations between the three factors and constructs related to depression suggested preliminary construct validity. The current study provides initial evidence for a multidimensional structure of the PFC-S and improves our understanding of early childhood depressive symptoms.