Abstract
The Young Children’s Appraisals of Teacher Support (Y-CATS) (Mantzicopoulos & Neuharth-Pritchett, 2003) was developed to assess children’s perceptions of their relations with teachers along three dimensions: Warmth (11 items), Conflict (10 items), Autonomy (6 items). The purpose of the present study is to examine the applicability of the Y-CATS in the Greek educational setting. 1904 Greek pre-school education children participated in the study. A cross-validation approach was employed to test Y-CATS psychometric properties. Exploratory factor analysis on the first sample revealed that three factors should be retained. A three-correlated factor model was postulated and tested using both Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). Results, which also replicated in the second sample, supported the ESEM solution. Associations among the Y-CATS latent factors revealed a negative moderate correlation between Warmth and Conflict (-.35), and a stronger positive correlation between Warmth and Autonomy (.54). The above findings suggest the Y-CATS can be applied in the Greek cultural context to evaluate students’ perceptions with their educators.
Presenters
Nikolaos TsigilisAssociate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Media, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Aspasia Togia
Associate Professor, Department of Library, Archival & Information Studies, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece, Thessaloniki, Greece Anastasia Vatou
Adjunct Lecturer, Early Childhood Education and Care, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece Athanasios Gregoriadis
Associate professor, Early Childhood Education and Care, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Instrument validation, Psychometric properties, Student-teacher relationships
