Évaluation du développement socioémotionnel de l'enfant d'un à trois ans: validation de la version française de l'Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment

Objective: This paper presents the psychometric properties of the French adaptation of the Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA), named the Évaluation sociale et émotionnelle de jeunes enfants (ESEJE). Methods: The French adaptation involved translation and back translation and was administered to 179 parents in pediatric well-baby centers and 115 parents in child care centers. Confirmatory factor analyses were employed to assess for latent factor structure and model fit was assessed using three standard fit indices. Analysis of variance examined age and gender effects on mean domain and scale scores. Results: Confirmatory factor analyses supported a comparable latent factor structure to that reported for the ITSEA. All domains and most scales show adequate intrascale reliability. Certain age and gender effects on mean score differed from those reported for the US sample. Conclusion: Our preliminary results indicate that the ESEJE shares the same latent factor structure as its English counterpart and may be a promising tool for the early detection of problem behaviors and delays in the acquisition of competencies in a French population.