Development and validation of a social-emotional questionnaire for students in grades 4-6 (SEQ [G4-6])

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness on the benefits of social-emotional competencies (SEC) on Israeli students. A self-report SEL measure tailored to the Israeli context, however, has yet to be developed. This research aims to validate the Social-Emotional Questionnaire for Grades 4-6 (SEQ [G4-6]), a new self-report questionnaire derived from culturally and developmentally appropriate social-emotional learning standards in Israel. Three studies were undertaken, with the first study using EFA with 1,232 students and the second study making use of CFA with 2, 464 students. Both studies indicated that the questionnaire consists of five factors: self-management, emotion recognition, relationship skills, social-awareness, and responsible decision-making. Study 3 compared the SEQ (G4-6) to the Strengths and Difficult questionnaire (SDQ) to examine discriminant validity; the results show the two questionnaires represent different theoretical constructs. The results’ theoretical and practical implications are considered in terms of advancing the development of the SEQ (G4-6) as a self-report assessment tool. Keywords: social-emotional learning, social-emotional questionnaire, validation, factor analysis, assessment.