THE PICTORIAL SCALE OF PERCEIVED COMPETENCE AND SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE - DOES IT WORK WITH LOW-INCOME URBAN CHILDREN

The present study represents a twofold investigation wherein (a) the c onstruct validity of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and S ocial Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA) and (b) the developmental appropriateness of the PSPCSA were empirically examined for urban Hea d Start children. Data were collected from a sample of 476 African-Ame rican children (48-64 months) representing children enrolled in a larg e metropolitan Head Start program. In the first study, neither replica tion of the test author's statistical procedures nor a series of explo ratory factor analyses produced psychologically meaningful constructs. A second study tested the assumption that the PSPCSA administration f ormat is developmentally appropriate for preschool children. Results f rom this study did not support the assumption that the PSPCSA is devel opmentally appropriate for preschool children. Implications for establ ishing valid assessment methods for urban Head Start children were dis cussed.