Psychometric characteristics of the Portuguese version of the Preschool Pediatric Symptom Checklist for children aged 18 to 60 months

Early detection of social-emotional and behavioral problems in children is important, because this anticipation allows for more effective intervention. Therefore, this quantitative, cross-sectional and instrumental study examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and various other psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Preschool Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PPSC). The participants were 398 Portuguese parents who completed the PPSC and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The PPSC, consisting of 18 items, measures the social-emotional statuses of children from the ages of 18 to 60 months. Three competing models (the unifactorial, 3-factorial and 4-factorial models) were tested as regards the PPSC’s factor structure using a confirmatory factor analysis. Our findings suggest that the original unifactorial scale of the PPSC is the most suitable in terms of the Portuguese version of this measure. The use of the PPSC in primary healthcare, its diagnostic accuracy, and children’s related social-emotional adjustment factors are then discussed.