Characteristics of Existing Measures of Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood - Applications for Federal Reporting and Data Collection

Sep 1, 2026

Upload by Mia

The report characterizes existing measures of early childhood social and emotional development, focusing on practical use in federal reporting and data collection. It frames core domains such as social competence, emotional competence, behavior problems, and self-regulation, including executive function as a related developmental area. A structured review evaluates candidate instruments, applies explicit criteria for reliability and validity, and summarizes strong and promising measures by reporting option, concluding with findings, implications, and next steps for federal agencies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatDOCX

Pages96

Reading Time34 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

The Importance of Early Childhood Social and Emotional Development

Early Childhood Social and Emotional Development: Theoretical Frameworks and Subdomains

Social Competence

Emotional Competence

Behavior Problems

Self-Regulation

Executive Function: A Related Area of Development

Review of Measures for the Inventory

Criteria by Which Measures Were Evaluated

Review of Measures by Social and Emotional Subdomain and Executive Function

Further Analyses and Considerations

Summary of Strong and Promising Measures

Conclusion

References

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Characteristics of Existing Measures of Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood Applications for Federal Reporting and Data Collection Prepared by May 26, 2015 Authors: Kristen Darling-Churchill, Nina Chien, Tamara Halle, Laura Lippman*, Martha Zaslow, Paula Daneri, Samantha Goldhagen, Shannon Moodie, and Grace Howarth. *Project Director Prepared for The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics Research and Innovation Committee Contract# 200-2012-F-51426 Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055018" Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc403055018 \h I HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055019" I. Introduction PAGEREF _Toc403055019 \h 1 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055020" II. The Importance of Early Childhood Social and Emotional Development PAGEREF _Toc403055020 \h 3 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055021" III. Early Childhood Social and Emotional Development: Theoretical Frameworks and Subdomains PAGEREF _Toc403055021 \h 5 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055022" Social Competence PAGEREF _Toc403055022 \h 7 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055023" Emotional Competence PAGEREF _Toc403055023 \h 7 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055024" Behavior Problems PAGEREF _Toc403055024 \h 8 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055025" Self-Regulation PAGEREF _Toc403055025 \h 8 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055026" Executive Function: A Related Area of Development PAGEREF _Toc403055026 \h 8 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055027" IV. Review of Measures for the Inventory PAGEREF _Toc403055027 \h 9 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055028" V. Criteria by Which Measures Were Evaluated PAGEREF _Toc403055028 \h 10 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055029" VI. Review of Measures by Social and Emotional Subdomain and Executive Function PAGEREF _Toc403055029 \h 15 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055030" VII. Further Analyses and Considerations PAGEREF _Toc403055030 \h 16 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055031" VIII. Summary of Strong and Promising Measures PAGEREF _Toc403055031 \h 16 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055032" Summary of Most Highly Rated Measures Presented by Reporting Option PAGEREF _Toc403055032 \h 23 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055033" Regular Indicator in America’s Children PAGEREF _Toc403055033 \h 23 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055034" One-time Special Feature PAGEREF _Toc403055034 \h 23 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055035" New Federal Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc403055035 \h 24 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055036" IX. Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc403055036 \h 25 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055037" Consideration of Criteria for America’s Children Indicators PAGEREF _Toc403055037 \h 25 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055038" What We Have Learned from Federal and Academic Partners PAGEREF _Toc403055038 \h 26 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055039" Summary of Findings from our Review PAGEREF _Toc403055039 \h 26 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055040" Contributions of this Project PAGEREF _Toc403055040 \h 27 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055041" Suggested Next Steps for Federal Agencies PAGEREF _Toc403055041 \h 27 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055042" X. References PAGEREF _Toc403055042 \h 29 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055043" XI. Appendix A: Review of Selected Literature to Identify Conceptual Frameworks and Common Subdomains of Social and Emotional Development PAGEREF _Toc403055043 \h 32 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055044" XII. Appendix B: Criteria/Thresholds for each type of reliability and validity PAGEREF _Toc403055044 \h 38 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055045" XIII. Appendix C: Definitions of the different types of reliability and validity PAGEREF _Toc403055045 \h 40 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055046" XIV. Appendix D – Detailed Review of Measures by Social and Emotional Subdomains and Executive Function PAGEREF _Toc403055046 \h 41 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055047" Social Competence PAGEREF _Toc403055047 \h 42 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403055048" Measures Appropriate for Consideration for Use as Regular Indicator PAGEREF _Toc40305

FAQs

Which developmental domains does the report cover for early childhood social and emotional development?

It covers social competence, emotional competence, behavior problems, and self-regulation, and it treats executive function as a related developmental area.

How are measures evaluated for federal reporting readiness?

Measures are reviewed using defined criteria that include reliability and validity thresholds appropriate to different measure types.

What outcomes does the report provide about measure suitability?

It summarizes strong and promising measures and organizes recommendations by reporting option, including regular indicators and one-time indicators.

What guidance is offered for federal agencies after the review?

The conclusion discusses what was learned from federal and academic partners and provides suggested next steps for federal agencies.

Sep 1, 2026

Upload by Mia