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The Social-Emotional and Character Development Scale (SECDS) is intended as a measure of social-emotional skills and character for elementary school-age children. This study investigated the measure's psychometric properties using data collected over 5 waves for a cohort of students followed from Grades 3 to 5 in 14 urban elementary schools (N Range = 500 to 593). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fit to the measure's hypothesized first- and second-order factor structure at each wave. Scales corresponding to the first-order factor structure demonstrated adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Consistent with previous research using similar measures of social-emotional skills and character, a longitudinal analysis indicated that the means for these scales decreased over the 5 waves. The validity of the SECDS general and individual scales was supported via their patterns of association with measures of expected correlates of social-emotional skills and character. Overall, findings suggest the SECDS is appropriate for assessing the development of different facets of social-emotional skills and character during elementary grades and that it could be useful for investigating their role in the developmental pathways for a range of important youth outcomes.
In recent years, schools and youth-serving organizations increasingly have adopted programs based on theories of social-emotional learning (SEL) (Weissberg & O'Brien, 2004) and social-emotional and character development (SECD) (Elias, 2009). Notwithstanding the potential for other important differences, it is noteworthy that programs developed within SEL and SECD frameworks tend to overlap considerably in their focus on strengthening students' skills and behaviors in areas such as prosocial behavior, honesty, self-development and self-control (Elias, 2009; Elias, Parker, Kash, & Dunkeblau, 2007; Park, 2004). The aims of these programs are to improve students' SEL and SECD competencies in these areas that, in turn, prevent negative student outcomes such as violence and substance use, and promote positive student outcomes such as social competence and academic achievement (Beets et al., 2009; Bierman et al., 2010; E. C. Brown, Low, Smith, & Haggerty, 2011; Elias & Haynes, 2008; Miller, Kraus, & Veltkamp, 2005). Evaluations of SEL and SECD programs have each yielded evidence to support their ability to address these outcomes (for reviews, see Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011; Institute for Educational Sciences, 2007). Research that informs the design and evaluation of both...