Citation

Allen K, Marlow R, Edwards V, Parker C, Rodgers L, Ukoumunne OC, Seem EC, Hayes R, Price A, Ford T. Clin. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 2018; 23(1): 25-41.

Affiliation

Institute of Health Services Research, University of Exeter Medical School, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1359104516687612

PMID

28135832

Abstract

There is a growing focus on child wellbeing and happiness in schools, but we lack self-report measures for very young children. Three samples ( N = 2345) were combined to assess the psychometric properties of the How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS) questionnaire, which was designed for children aged 4-8 years. Test-retest reliability was moderate (intraclass correlation coefficient = .62). HIFAMS assessed a single concept and had moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha values from.62 to.67). There were low correlations between scores on the child-reported HIFAMS and parent and teacher reports. Children at risk of exclusion had significantly lower HIFAMS scores than the community sample (mean difference = 2.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) = [1.6, 3.2]; p < .001). Schools contributed only 4.5% of the variability in HIFAMS score, the remaining 95.5% reflecting pupil differences within schools. Girls' scores were 0.37 units (95% CI = [0.16, 0.57]; p < .001) higher than boys, while year group and deprivation did not predict HIFAMS score. HIFAMS is a promising measure that demonstrates moderate reliability and discriminates between groups even among very young children.

Language: en

Keywords

Happiness at school; How I Feel About My School; assessment; child mental health; child self-report measures