The development and validation of the child self-criticism scale (CSCS)

Social and competitive environmental pressures, combined with changes in self-identity, make self-criticism especially problematic in the identity-forming phase of childhood. Yet, no robust measure of self-criticism exists for use with child populations. Here, via two studies, we present the development of the first psychometrically robust measure of self-criticism for children aged seven to 11 years: the Child Self-Criticism Scale (CSCS). In study one, an item pool was generated through: (i) a literature review of existing self-criticism measures to produce an initial pool of 104 items; (ii) eight subject matter experts’ assessment of the content validity of these items; and (iii) five focus groups with 33 children in total. This resulted in a final pool of 45 items. Study 2 involved data collected at two time-points. At time-point one, 45 items were administered to a sample of 394 U.K. primary school children. Factor Analysis revealed two latent factors based on a reduced set of 15 items characterised as: Criticising self and Reassuring self. Both subscales demonstrated high internal consistency (Factor 1 α.90; Factor 2 α.82). At time point two, the 15-item CSCS was administered to 214 of the participants at time point one, alongside standardised measures of wellbeing. The CSCS showed high correlations with depression, self-compassion, self-criticism, and perfectionism, with significant correlations between CSCS subscales and validation measures. Test-retest reliability at four weeks was excellent (0.74). Overall, as a short, psychometrically robust scale, the CSCS offers a promising tool for measuring the emotional wellbeing of children and/or the effectiveness of wellbeing interventions.