Assessing young children's views of their academic, social, and emotional lives: An evaluation of the self-perception scales of the Berkeley puppet interview

In a prospective, longitudinal study we examined the psychometric propertie s of the self-perception scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview (BPI). A t otal sample of 97 young children were assessed with the BPI at 3 time point s: preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The BPI assesses young childre n's self-perceptions of their school adjustment in 6 domains: academic comp etence, achievement motivation, social competence, peer acceptance, depress ion-anxiety, and aggression-hostility. Results showed that 41/2- to 71/2-ye ar-olds possess a multidimensional self-concept that can be reliably measur ed and that the BPI is sensitive to normative changes and individual differ ences in young boys' and girls' views of themselves. Support for the method 's validity was derived from consistent and meaningful patterns of converge nce between children's self-perceptions and ratings by adult informants-mot hers, fathers, and teachers-as well as standardized test scores. In fact, i n this study, the concordance between young children's self-reports and par allel ratings by teachers or mothers were consistently as strong as if not stronger than the concordance between mothers' and teachers' ratings.