Cross-Language Validation and the Factor Structure of the Social-Emotional Competence Questionnaire for Pakistani Adolescents

BACKGROUND: For the last few years, in the field of school education, social-emotional competencies have been gaining in importance because they result in positive attitudes and adaptation to school (Mella et al., 2021). OBJECTIVE: The current study was designed to conduct Urdu translation, cross-language validation, and confirmatory factor analysis of the Social-Emotional Competence Questionnaire (SECQ) for Pakistani adolescents. DESIGN: Urdu translation was done using the standard back-translation method. The data for the main study was collected using a non-random sampling method for 910 adolescents who were between 10 to 19 years old. RESULTS: The findings of the pilot study (n = 64) show that the Social-Emotional Competence Questionnaire is a reliable questionnaire, as Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities of both versions (English and Urdu) were acceptable (Version 1 α = 0.77; Version 2 α = 0.77). After 15 days, the Pearson product-moment correlation was checked to meet the objective of cross-language validation, which resulted in a high correlation between the two forms (r = 0.88). The original author of the questionnaire had proposed a factor structure consisting of five factors, namely: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship management, and responsible decision-making. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the present study also confirmed and supported the five-factor structure in comparison to other models for the Urdu version. CONCLUSION: The Social-Emotional Competence Questionnaire is a reliable and culturally-validated tool for adolescents attending school, which can be used in future research for measuring social-emotional competencies.