The Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire: Stability of its Factor Structure Between Cultures, Sexes, Ages and Socioeconomic Classes

Abstract

The Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire has been widely used in North-America to study social competencies and behavioural problems of preschool children. The 30 item rating scale was created by Behar and Stringfield (1974) as an adaptation of Rutter's (1967) Children's Behaviour Questionnaire intended for elementary school children. In their original study Behar and Stringfield proposed a three-component solution for their data: hostileaggressive, anxious-fearful, hyperactive-distractible. Most studies using the Behar Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire, (B-PBQ) have been using this three-component solution. Fowler and Park (1979), after a study of a "normal" population sample, concluded that a two-component solution (aggressive-hyperactive-distractible, anxious-fearful) was a better approximation to simple structure and more easily interpretable. They also concluded that the two-component solution was stable across sexes, but questioned the stability for "populations differing significantly in socioeconomic or ethnic composition". This study addresses the "simple structure" problem and the "stability of structure" problem for the B-PBQ. Four different samples ranging from N=383 to N=1161 were assessed in francophone schools in Montreal. Results of principal component analyses compared to Behar and Stringfield's data as well as Fowler and Park's data lead to the following conclusions: a two-principal-component solution has a simpler structure and is easier to interpret with reference to Rutter's Children's Behaviour Questionnaire; the two-component solution is stable across sexes, ages, socioeconomic populations and cultures. The Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire paired with the Children's Behaviour Questionnaire should be suitable for longitudinal and cross-cultural studies of social competencies from preschool to junior high school.