Denham S A, Wyatt T M, Bassett H H, Echeverria D, Knox S S
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, USA.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2009 Jan;63 Suppl 1:i37-52. doi: 10.1136/jech.2007.070797.
This paper provides an overview of methodological challenges related to the epidemiological assessment of social-emotional development in children. Because population-based studies involve large cohorts and are usually multicentre in structure, they have cost, participant burden and other specific issues that affect the feasibility of the types of measures that can be administered. Despite these challenges, accurate in-depth assessment of social-emotional functioning is crucial, based on its importance to child outcomes like mental health, academic performance, delinquency and substance abuse. Five dimensions of social-emotional development in children are defined: (1) social competence; (2) attachment; (3) emotional competence; (4) self-perceived competence; and (5) temperament/personality. Their measurement in a longitudinal study and associated challenges are discussed. Means of making valid, reliable assessments while at the same time minimising the multiple challenges posed in the epidemiological assessment of social-emotional development in children are reviewed.
本文概述了与儿童社会情感发展的流行病学评估相关的方法学挑战。由于基于人群的研究涉及大量队列，且结构上通常是多中心的，它们存在成本、参与者负担以及其他影响可实施测量类型可行性的具体问题。尽管存在这些挑战，但鉴于社会情感功能对儿童心理健康、学业成绩、犯罪行为和药物滥用等结果的重要性，对其进行准确深入的评估至关重要。本文定义了儿童社会情感发展的五个维度：（1）社会能力；（2）依恋；（3）情绪能力；（4）自我认知能力；（5）气质/性格。讨论了在纵向研究中对这些维度的测量及相关挑战。本文还综述了在进行有效、可靠评估的同时，尽量减少儿童社会情感发展流行病学评估中所面临的多重挑战的方法。
