Preschool teacher attachment and attention skills

Psychometric properties of Nepalese preschool anxiety scale among preschool children: A cross‐sectional study

Background

The Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS)‐Parent version scale is a 28‐item measure designed to assess anxiety symptoms in preschoolers aged 3−6 years. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Nepali translated version of the PAS‐Parent version.

Methods

A descriptive cross‐sectional design was used to collect data from 680 mothers among seven conveniently selected schools in Kathmandu.

Results

The difference in PAS‐Parent version scores across age groups was found to be statistically significant. In confirmatory factor analysis, 28 items showed a poor fit of the five‐factor original model for the data. However, removing three items (25 item version) through the five‐factor model indicated a better fit. Internal consistency measured by Cronbach's α for the PAS‐Parent version scale was of good range (0.87). Cronbach's α of the subscales: generalized anxiety (0.63), social phobia (0.67), physical injury fears (0.75), and separation anxiety (0.63) were in fair range; while it was in poor range for the obsessive‐compulsive subscale (0.567).

Conclusion

Nepali version of the PAS demonstrated fair psychometric properties, supporting its utility in screening and assessing a broad range of anxiety symptoms in Nepalese preschoolers.

Early Teacher–Child Relationships Promote Self-Regulation Development in Prekindergarten

Children’s experiences during the prekindergarten period are critical for shaping their emerging self-regulation skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of teacher–child relationship quality to children’s performance on a self-regulation task at the end of prekindergarten. Teachers rated the conflict, closeness, and dependency in their relationships with 104 children in the fall of prekindergarten, and children’s self-regulation was independently measured with a visual attention task in the spring of prekindergarten. In addition, teachers and parents rated children’s temperamental self-regulation (i.e., effortful control). Results indicate that greater teacher–child dependency predicted children’s longer time on the visual attention task, and greater teacher–child closeness predicted children’s lower accuracy on the visual attention task. In addition, children who were rated as more self-regulated by parents were more accurate on the visual attention task. The implications of the results are discussed.