Cross-cultural validation of Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Childrenin the United Arab Emirates

Background: Harter's Self-Perception Profile for children (SPPC) is a self- reporting: inventory fur ascertaining children's perception of themselves i n various specific domains of their life, as well as their sense of global self-worth. A Few studies have examined the psychometric properties of this instrument in the Western setting, but none have investigated this in an A rabic culture. Patients and Method: Psychometric properties of the SPPC were examined, usi ng a sample of 100 schoolchildren aged 8 to 16 years in the United Arab Emi rates. Results: The internal consistency reliability was round to be excellent wit h Chronbach's alpha, ranging from 0.86 to 0.92. Significant age and gender differences were found with the internal consistency reliability scores, br ing higher in children aged 13 to 16 years (0.88 to 0.93) when compared to younger children, especially boys aged 8 to 12 years (0.54 to 0.66), sugges ting a need to exercise caution while using this scale in young boys in thi s culture. Behavioral conduct subscale was found to have the highest reliab ility score and the strongest correlation to global self-worth (r=0.54) for both younger and older children in our sample. This is in contrast to find ings from similar studies carried out on American and Dutch samples, where this subscale was found to have the lowest reliability score and the weakes t correlation with one's global self-worth. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the SPPC is a reliable and internall y valid instrument for use in the Arab culture.