Description and validation of a teacher-report version of the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire

Teachers are important influences on children's development in multiple domains; and teachers' emotional expressiveness is a particularly salient influence on children's social, emotional, and academic development. Well-validated observational measures of teachers' emotional expressiveness are available, yet observational methods are not feasible for many researchers. Given the need for valid and reliable self-report measures of teachers' emotional expressiveness, the present study of pre-kindergarten through second-grade teachers (n = 29) describes a novel adaptation of the widely used Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire for use by teachers. Highly consistent with the original measure, the adaptation yields a two-factor structure; and the positive and negative expressiveness scales demonstrate strong internal reliability and test-retest reliability. Limitations, directions for additional research, and applications are discussed.