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Ages & Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ®:SE-2)

Assessment Rating:
A
A – Psychometrics Well-Demonstrated
See entire scale
Developer(s):

Jane Squires, PhD, Diane Bricker, PhD, Elizabeth Twombly, MS

Description / Purpose:

The Ages & Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ®:SE-2) screens young children’s social-emotional development during the first 6 years of life. The ASQ:SE-2 includes 9 age-appropriate questionnaires (2, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, and 60 months) that screen 7 key social-emotional areas: self-regulation, compliance, adaptive functioning, autonomy, affect, social-communication, and interaction with people. The tool was developed to help home visiting, early intervention, childcare, Head Start, child welfare agencies, and other early childhood programs screen and assess infants and young children to determine who would benefit from an in-depth evaluation in the area of social-emotional development. Parents fill out the questionnaire, checking the response that best describes their child’s behavior: often or always, sometimes, or rarely or never. Professionals score the questionnaire in just 2–3 minutes, and then transfer a total score to a simple summary sheet along with any concerns the parent has noted. The summary sheet indicates whether any follow up should be considered.

Target Population: Children aged 1 month to 72 months

Time to Administer: 10-15 minutes

Completed By: Parents or caregivers

Modalities Available: Pen and Paper; Online

Scoring Information: The paper version is hand scored by a professional. Questionnaires completed through ASQ Online are automatically scored by the system.

Languages Available: Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Vietnamese

Training Requirements for Intended Users: There is no minimum degree or license requirement to administer the tool. Training is recommended for programs implementing the tool and is available in the form of seminars and institutes from Brookes Publishing.

Availability: Squires, J., Bricker, D., & Twombly, E. (2015). ASQ®:SE-2 User’s Guide. Brookes Publishing Co. The tool can be purchased from Brookes Publishing: https://products.brookespublishing.com/Ages-Stages-Questionnaires-Social-Emotional-Second-Edition-ASQSE-2-P849.aspx

Contact Information

Company: Brookes Publishing
Website: brookespublishing.com/product/asqse-2
Name: Leah Rivera
Email:
Phone: (410) 337-9580 x120

Summary of Relevant Psychometric Research

This tool has received the Measurement Tools Rating of "A – Psychometrics Well-Demonstrated" based on the published, peer-reviewed research available. The tool must have 2 or more published, peer-reviewed studies that have established the measure’s psychometrics (e.g., reliability and validity, sensitivity and specificity, etc.). Please see the Measurement Tools Rating Scale for more information.

Show relevant research...

Chen, C. -Y., Squires, J., Chen, C. -I., Wu, R., & Xie, H. (2020). The adaptation and psychometric examination of a social-emotional developmental screening tool in Taiwan. Early Education and Development, 31(1), 27–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2019.1611126

Sample:

Participants — 1,455 children and their families in Taiwan

Race/Ethnicity — Not specified

Summary:

The purpose of the study was to examine the psychometric properties of Ages & Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional, Second Edition – Traditional Chinese (ASQ:SE-2-TC), including item fit, item difficulty, and reliability, and determine which items presented differential item function (DIF) when comparing the ASQ:SE-2-TC and the Ages & Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE-2). Data were analyzed by item response theory modeling. A multidimensional Rasch Partial credit model was chosen for data analysis. Differential item functioning (DIF) was used to explore the difference between the Traditional Chinese ASQ:SE-2 and the English ASQ:SE-2 (N = 3,005) administered in the U.S. Results indicate that (a) item fit statistics was between 0.88 – 1.26 (M = 1.00, SD = 0.10), (b) difficulty was between -0.79 – 3.19 (M = 2.06, SD = 0.84), (c) reliability was 0.79 for all items, 0.75/0.74 for Emotion/Sociality dimension, and (d) there were six out of 35 items (17.1%) with moderate to large DIF.

Chen, C.-Y., Squires, J., & Scalise, K. (2020). Evaluating the dimensionality and psychometric properties of a social–emotional screening instrument for young children. Infants & Young Children, 33(2), 142–159.  https://doi.org/10.1097/IYC.0000000000000163

Sample:

Participants — 20,862 children aged 1–72 months (12,172 male and 8,690 female)

Race/Ethnicity — 75% Anglo American, 9% Mixed Race/Ethnicity, 6% Hispanic American, 5% African American, 5% Asian American, 1% Native American, and 0.3% Pacific Islander/Hawaiian

Summary:

The purpose of the study was to examine the dimensionality and psychometric properties of the Ages & Stages Questionnaires: Social–Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE-2) using item response theory models. A comparison was conducted between a unidimensional model, reflecting a compound construct—social–emotional competence, and a multidimensional model, based on the theoretical framework that posits that social competence and emotional competence are highly related but different constructs. Analyses indicated that the multidimensional structure presented a better fit for the ASQ:SE-2 sample across most intervals (i.e., 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, and 60 months). The psychometric properties estimated by the multidimensional model reflected congruence between the levels of item difficulty and the design of the ASQ:SE-2 and indicated a high quality of items based on the fit item statistics. However, the expected a posteriori/plausible value reliability estimates for several younger age intervals (i.e., 6, 12, 18, and 24 months) did not meet the 0.70 benchmark. The relationship between the 2 dimensions presented a moderate correlation during infancy (r = .43–.56) and a stronger relationship in older ages (r = .71–.83). The sensitivity of the ASQ-SE2 ranged from 77% to 84% and the specificity from 76% to 98%, with the Cronbach’s coefficient α ranging from 0.71 to 0.90.

Chen, C.-Y., Anunciação, L., & Stegenga, S. M. (2023). Developmental and social-emotional screening: What tests can tell us. Infants and Young Children, 36(4), 285–295. https://doi.org/10.1097/IYC.0000000000000249

Sample:

Participants — 16,739 children, ages birth to 6 years old, in the United States

Race/Ethnicity — 66% Anglo American, 13% Missing data, 7%% Mixed Race/Ethnicity, 5% Hispanic American, 4% African American, 4% Asian American, 1% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 0.1% and Hawaiian

Summary:

The purpose of the study was to examine the agreement between the Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3), and the Ages & Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE-2), and investigate the relationship of the overall indication of “parental concerns” about their child’s behavior on the ASQ-3 and the results of the ASQ:SE-2. Analyses included calculation of agreements (1) between the ASQ-3 and the ASQ:SE-2, as well as (2) between the indication of “parental concerns” about their child’s behavior on the ASQ-3 and the results from the child’s ASQ:SE-2. Findings indicated 0.80 agreement between “typical” classification on the ASQ-3 and the ASQ:SE-2; as well as 0.57 agreement on the “at-risk” status. The sensitivity was 0.66, the specificity was 0.74, with an overall accuracy of 0.71. When parents indicated a “behavioral concern” about their child on the ASQ-3 overall questions, 74% of these children were identified by a subsequent ASQ:SE-2. High agreement on the “at-risk” status between developmental and social-emotional screening tests was found. High agreement between parental concerns about child’s behavior and results of the social-emotional screening test was found.

Date Reviewed: May 2024 (Originally reviewed in May 2024)