| ObjectiveTo develop the reliability and validity of the Preschool Children’s Positive Mental Character Questionnaire(PCPMCQ),and to provide a better understanding for positive mental character in preschool children.Additionally,the present study was primarily investigated the PCPMCQ.The aim of preliminary application was to examine the distribution of PCPMCQ in different socio-demographic characteristic,to explore the associations between positive mental character,parenting rearing,and emotional and behavioral problems,and to further explore the mediating effect between them.Our study aims to promote the development of early childhood mental and physical behavior and propose new insight for improving the emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children.MethodsBased on literature review,interviewing caregivers and experts,and questionnaire survey,the original PCPMCQ contained 50 items.A total of 2686 preschool children were selected from January to March 2018,and the preschool children’s guardian completed a series of questionnaires to screen the items and evaluate its reliability and validity.Additionally,a total of 2553 preschool children were selected in three cities of Anhui province,using a stratified cluster convenience sampling method.Parents and primary caregivers completed a self-reported measure of basic information scales,PCPMCQ,parent-report strengths and difficulties questionnaire(SDQ-P),and egna minnen av barndoms uppfostran-own memories of parental rearing practices in children(EMBU-P)to assessed for basic information,positive mental character,emotional and behavioral problems,and parental rearing et al.Data processing and statistical analyses were performed suing using IBM SPSS software version 23.0(IBM,Armonk,NY,USA).Differences of continuous and categorical variables between different perceptions were evaluated with t-test/one-way ANOVA test and Chi-Square test,respectively;multivariable linear regression models were utilized to estimate the associations of parental rearing and positive mental character;binary logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between positive mental character and emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children;R 3.5 software has been used to analysis the scree plot with parallel analysis of component/factor;this study further to analysis the mediation effects of preschool children positive mental character between parental rearing and emotional and behavioral problems using AMOS 17.0.ResultsThe PCPMCQ included five subscales(37 items):the wisdom and knowledge(10items),courage(5 items),humanity(10 items),justice(6 items),and temperance(6items).The variance cumulative contribution rate was 51.667%.The values of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient,split-half reliability coefficient,test-retest reliability coefficient of PCPMCQ were 0.854,0.772,and 0.894,respectively.The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that all indexes were valid,and the values ofχ~2/df,goodness-of-fit index(GFI),adjusted goodness-of-fit Index(AGFI),normal fit index(NFI),comparative fit index(CFI)and root mean square error of approximation(RMSEA)were 2.814,0.930,0.918,0.848,0.894,and 0.038,respectively;the results of discrimination analysis indicated that the total scores of PCPMCQ in preschool children with behavioral problems were significantly lower than those who without emotional and behavioral problems(P<0.001).This study shown that(1)PCPMCQ total scores and each subscale’s score were negative associations with rejection,with adjustedβvalue ranging from-0.34 to-0.03(P<0.05);while were positively related to emotional warmth,with adjustedβvalue ranging from 0.03 to 0.31(P<0.05);and control attempts presented positive correlations with wisdom and knowledge and justice with adjustedβvalue were 0.03(0.01,0.05)and 0.02(0.01,0.03),respectively,that also presented negative correlations with courage with adjustedβvalue was-0.03(-0.04,-0.02),and that has no relationship between humanity,temperance and total scores of PCPMCQ(P>0.05).(2)The total scores of PCPMCQ and humanity were significantly correlated with emotional and behavioral problems(P<0.05);except for prosocial behavior problems,courage was negatively correlated with emotional and behavioral(P<0.05);except for peer problems,temperance was negatively correlated with emotional and behavioral peoblems(P<0.05);justice was significantly correlated with emotional problems,hyperactivity/inattention and prosocial behaviors(P<0.05),but that has no correlated with conduct problems,peer problems,and total difficulties(P>0.05);furthermore,wisdom and knowledge has no associate with emotional and behavioral problem(P>0.05).(3)The mediation effect results indicated that the mediating effect proportion of preschool children’s positive mental character between rejection and emotional warmth and preschool children’s emotional and behavioral problems were 56.85%and 78.39%,respectively.However,the suppressing effect proportion of preschool children’s positive mental character between control attempts and preschool children’s emotional and behavioral problems was 1.325(|-0.106/0.080|).ConclusionThe PCPMCQ has a credible reliability and validity,so it can be used as an effective tool for assessment the level of the preschool children positive mental character.The primarily application the PCPMCQ suggest that parental rearing was associated with preschool children’s positive mental character.Except for wisdom and knowledge,positive mental character was significantly related with emotional and behavioral problems.This study further explored that the mediating effect of positive mental character between rejection and emotional warmth and emotional and behavioral problems among preschool children,and the suppressing effect proportion of preschool children’s positive mental character between control attempts and preschool children’s emotional and behavioral problems. |
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