The Self-Perception Profile for Children: further evidence for its factor structure, reliability, and validity
Introduction
Self-esteem refers to an individual's feelings of his or her worthiness and competence. Harter (1999) views self-esteem as an evaluative aspect of the self-system which is related to the image of an ideal self that we all have: when there is little discrepancy between the ideal and the perceived real self, the individual will experience high self-esteem. However, when the discrepancy is great, low self-esteem is the result. Self-esteem can be considered as an individual difference variable of which the foundation is layed in middle childhood when children develop the ability to compare themselves with peers (Ruble, Boggiano, Feldman, & Loebl, 1980). As a result of this comparison, children increasingly realize how they stand relative to their peers in various domains of functioning (school, sports, social relationships), and accordingly adjust their level of self-esteem.
Self-esteem is generally regarded as an important index of children's well-being and mental health. High self-esteem has been linked to satisfaction and happiness in later life, while low self-esteem is associated with depression, anxiety, and maladjustment both in school and social relationships (see for a review Harter, 1993). For this reason, reliable and valid measures of self-esteem are considered as useful for research, clinical, and educational practices.
The most widely used questionnaire for assessing self-esteem in youths is the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC; Harter, 1985). The SPPC evaluates self-esteem in five domains: scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance, and behavioral conduct, as well as global self-worth. The psychometric properties of the SPPC have been examined in various studies, the results of which can be summarized as follows. To begin with, factor analysis of the SPPC has generally indicated that the questionnaire consists of five factors that correspond with the hypothesized domains of self-esteem (Boivin et al., 1992, Granleese and Joseph, 1993, Granleese and Joseph, 1994, Miller, 2000, Schumann et al., 1999, Van den Bergh and Marcoen, 1999, Van den Bergh and Van Ranst, 1998, Veerman et al., 1996). Furthermore, the internal consistency and test–retest stability of the SPPC scales can be defined as satisfactory (e.g. Granleese and Joseph, 1994, Van Dongen-Melman et al., 1993). Finally, evidence has been obtained for the validity of the SPPC. More specifically, SPPC scores correlate positively with peer-, teacher-, and parent-ratings of children's competence (e.g. Cole et al., 2001, Van den Bergh and Marcoen, 1999) and negatively with levels of psychopathological symptoms (e.g. Alatorre Alva and De los Reyes, 1999, Cole et al., 1999, Compas et al., 1991, Evans et al., 1994). Moreover, lowered levels of SPPC-assessed self-esteem have been found in clinically referred children and adolescents suffering from disruptive and emotional disorders (e.g. Dumas and Pelletier, 1999, Renouf et al., 1997).
While the earlier mentioned studies all provide support for the psychometric qualities of the SPPC, a comprehensive research article on the reliability and validity of this questionnaire is still missing in the literature. The current study was an attempt to fill up this gap. The SPPC was administered to a large sample of Dutch school children (N=1143) in order to study the following issues. (1) The factor structure of the questionnaire was re-examined using confirmatory factor analysis. (2) The reliability (internal consistency and test–retest stability) of the scale was further investigated. (3) The validity of the SPPC was established through its associations with measures of psychopathology and personality. With respect to the latter issue, it is important to note that data were used from different informants viz children themselves, parents, and teachers.
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were 1143 children (532 boys and 611 girls) recruited from six primary and one secondary school in the southern part of The Netherlands. Mean age of the children was 11.2 years (S.D.=1.0, range 8–14 years). Children were primarily Caucasian (>90%). Due to school constraints, further information about the socioeconomic status and family structure of the children was not available.
Questionnaires
As mentioned in the introduction, the SPPC is a self-report questionnaire assessing children's
Factor structure
Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a correlated five-factor structure for the SPPC provided a reasonable fit for the data. Goodness-of-fit indices were: χ2/df=3.6 [χ2(395)=1436.1, P<0.001], RMSEA=0.04, CFI=0.83, NNFI=0.82, and GFI=0.96. As can be seen in Table 2, all 36 items clearly loaded on their intended factor.
The five-factor higher-order model did not provide a better fit. Goodness-of-fit indices were even less satisfactory: χ2/df=4.0 [χ2(400)=1591.8, P<0.001], RMSEA=0.05, CFI=0.81,
Discussion
While previous studies have found support for various aspects of reliability and validity of the SPPC, the present study provides a more comprehensive evaluation of the psychometric properties of this scale in a large sample of normal children aged 8–14 years. The main results can be summarized as follows. To begin with, confirmatory factor analysis showed that a five-factor model in which SPPC items cluster into five separate but correlated domains of self-esteem, viz. scholastic competence,
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2022, Personality and Individual DifferencesCitation Excerpt :Support for the structure of associations between the 10 basic values has been found in hundreds of studies in over 80 countries (Sagiv et al., 2017). Self-esteem describes the robust functioning of an individual (Harter, 1990) and reflects an individual's feelings and beliefs about their own competence and worthiness (e.g., Jacobs et al., 2002; Muris et al., 2003). Self-esteem reflects evaluative aspects of the self, with global self-esteem seen as the over-arching view of the self and a predictor of both positive and negative outcomes later in life (see Butler & Gasson, 2005; Emler, 2001).