Autumn Brown

Thank you to Emily Weiss @nsuntheimer.bsky.social Richard Appiah @bettaaurino.bsky.social @wolfssharon.bsky.social

We problematize the use of WEIRD measures in majority world contexts. Using tools without attention to cultural context can misrepresent psychosocial states in non-Western settings and limit efforts to evaluate programs designed to support children’s social and emotional development.

Exploratory factor analysis of the SDQ in northern Ghana revealed a factor combining self-regulation and prosocial behaviors—a construct we term “Responsibility,” which reflects social skills highly valued in the Ghanaian context but not explicitly captured by WEIRD-developed instruments.

Factorial and cultural validity of a social and emotional behavior measure in Northern Ghana In a large sample of children in northern Ghana (N = 4,723), we investigated the factorial validity and reliability of the widely used parent-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). ...

Our new paper contributes to the growing conversation on the applicability of Western-developed instruments for assessing social and emotional behaviors in non-Western contexts.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....