About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 12. Methods, History, Theory

Abstract

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Background and purpose. A systematic review of 189 measures relevant to social-emotional competence (SEC) showed that most were developed and tested within the U.S. context (Humphrey et al., 2011), and adaptation limited to the broader Western world, such as in the U.K. and Australia (Street, 2017). There is a growing need to adapt existing SEC scales into non-western Chinese school contexts.
This study aims to adapt the WCSD Social–Emotional Competency Assessment (WCSD-SECA-40) from the US context into schools in China. This scale was purposively selected because 1) it is one of the very few, open-source tools; 2) it is self-reported, making it easier to administer compared to teacher-reported tools, especially given the heavy workload Chinese teachers face; 3) it covers all five areas of SEC from the CASEL framework and is suitable for grades 5-12 (Davidson et al., 2018). Once adapted, this scale has its great potential for adoption within Chinese educational systems and can be a valuable tool for both practitioners and researchers.
​​Method. This study involved a sample of 1,349 Chinese primary school students (Mean age = 11.69, 51% girls). Building on the established multidimensional structure of the WCSD-SECA-40 in previous research, we examined both the five-factor model (self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, responsible decision-making) and the eight-factor model (which further disaggregates self-awareness into self-concept and emotion knowledge, and self-management into emotion regulation, goal management, and school work). To rigorously assess the fit of these models, we employed both CFA (first-order, second-order, and bifactor models) and ESEM (first-order and bifactor ESEM). The Diagonally Weighted Least Squares estimator was used due to the ordinal nature of the 4-point Likert scale. The reliability was assessed using omega (ω), omega hierarchical (ωh) coefficients, and explained common variance (ECV).
Results. All the CFA models showed inadequate fit, suggesting the need for employing ESEM to capture the complexity of the WCSD-SECA-40. The bifactor eight-factor ESEM showed the best model fit (χ2 = 949.06, df = 456, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.03, SRMR = 0.02). The bifactor ESEM indicated a strong overarching general factor of SEC, with significant factor loadings across all 40 items (Standardized Factor Loadings = 0.30-0.64, p < 0.001). However, the specific factors were less clearly defined, with non-significant and low loadings. A predominant general factor was suggested with good reliability (ω = 0.92; ωh = 0.88; ECV = 0.65), whereas the variance was largely explained by the general factor compared with specific factors. It was evidenced that the ωh subscale coefficients and ECV were small for all specific factors (ωh = [0.04, 0.29]; ECV = [0.23, 0.55]).
Conclusion. This study found that the bifactor ESEM with an eight-factor structure demonstrated a relatively better fit. Given that the general factor, rather than the specific factors, is more reliable for practical use, a more in-depth discussion and model adjustments will be provided, focusing on the Chinese educational system, an examination of specific factors, and the measurement invariance of the scale.

Author information

Author	Role
Linyun Fu, M.S.W., University of Chicago	Presenting author
Hui Hu, University of Hong Kong	Non-presenting author
Chenxiao Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison	Non-presenting author

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