Review of measures of social and emotional development

Abstract

This paper provides a critical review of measures of social and emotional development in early childhood for use within large-scale national surveys of child well-being and evaluations of early childhood interventions and initiatives. Key literature on social and emotional development was reviewed and organized around four commonly used subdomains: social competence, emotional competence, behavior problems, and self-regulation. Six measures, out of 75 which met criteria for more systematic review, were identified as good candidates for broader use with children birth to age five, based on their having a majority of 10 key features of strong assessments. The review also examines whether executive function is captured by measures of social and emotional development. Implications for enhancing the usefulness and effectiveness of social and emotional measures in the field and implications for future measures development are considered.