Abstract
We examined the extent to which developmental appraisal by nursery teachers predicts psychosocial maladaptation in elementary school, and developed the Developmental Scale for Nursery Record (DSNR). A 7-year longitudinal investigation was conducted on 2,400 children from all day nursery and elementary schools in a suburban Japanese city. Nursery school teachers used the Nursery Teacher's Rating Development Scale for Children (NDSC) to assess children's development. Multiple regression analysis revealed that externalizing problems were predicted by tendencies of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (hyperactivity and inattention), while internalizing problems were predicted by tendencies of autism spectrum disorder (sociality, flexibility, and communication) and tendencies of developmental coordination disorder (gross motor control). Academic performance was influenced by tendencies of the three disorders (inattention, communication, and fine motor control). Item-level analysis identified 35 items that contributed to the prediction of psychosocial maladaptation, and these items were assigned to the DSNR. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the DSNR had optimal levels of reliability and factorial validity. Despite substantial reduction of the number of items, the DSNR showed as much predictive accuracy as did the original NDSC.
