Developing a teacher anxiety rating scale suitable for five to seven-year-old children

This thesis describes the development of a rating scale designed to be used by teachers to identifu anxious and shy children, aged 5 to 7 years, in Kindergarten and Grade One.Currently, there are no instruments designed specifically for that purpose that address this age group.Children experiencing difficulty with internalinngdisorders such as anxiety, shyness, and behavioural inhibition represent a growing segment of the population (Merrell, 2001).Evidence indicates that the educational, psychological, and emotional needs of these children are not being addressed @arlow, 2002)-I interviewed Kindergarten and grade One teachers to find out what behaviours, drawn from the literature on childhood anxiety disorders, they recognize as shyness and anxiety.Information obtained from the teachers then was used to formulate, construct, and evaluate a rating scale to be administered by teachers.The thesis begins with an overview, followed in Chapter 2by a literature review of the research on arxiety in young children.The methods used to obtain the information salient to the formulation and construction of a rating scale are discussed in Chapter 3. The data are presented in a two-study format.The first study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods, using semi-structwed interviews with teachers, and their completion of a prototype rating scale.The second study consisted of the administration of the scale and comparisons of its psychometric properties to other instruments.The thesis concludes with a discussion, in Chapter 4, of the results and limitations of the studies.Anxiety f;.ating Scale 2Increasingly, teachers are confronted with a growing number of children who engage in a wide range of inappropriate behaviours (Charles,2002).Some of these misbehaviours are overt and easily recognized as problem behaviours.However, there are some behaviows which may be confusing to teachers because they are not overt, but are difficult to notice.Yet, the teachers may sense that something is amiss.Anxiety, shyness, or inhibition may be explanations for the problems that some children are experiencing.Anxiety, shyness, inhibition, and depression are classified as internalizing problems or disorders which children may experience, but do not express.Significance of the Study.This study is intended to help educators to understand better how they might identi$ young children who have problems with shyness, anxiety, and behavioural inhibition.The steps involved in the development of a suitable instrument to be used for the early identification of children at risk of developing anxiety will be presented.It is anticipated that the results of this study will help provide a basis for determining the educational, medical, and psychological interventions designed to best accommodate the young children in our schools who are afflicted by anxiety.Internalízing problems.Anxiety, shyness, and behavioural inhibition are referred to as internalizingdisorders because the principal feature of these problem behaviours is that the children who are experiencing them most often tend to experience them in an internal fashion.That is, they hold in the distress to which these disorders give rise, rather than expressing it outwardly.The three terms, arxiety, shyness, and behavioural inhibition, often are used in an interchangeable fashion.This likely is due to their being very closely enmeshed in meaning.For the purposes of this study, anxiety is the preferred Kagan, Reznick, & snidman 1988; Merrell, 2001; wittchen, Nelson, & Lachner l998;wittchen, Kessler, pfister, & Lieb 2}}};

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