Development of cognitive flexibility scale for children: A scale development study

The main purpose of this research is to develop a measurement tool that measures cognitive flexibility for children aged 8-14, and to examine the psychometric properties of the measurement tool. The study group of the research consists of 792 students. As a result of the Exploratory Factor Analysis, it was determined that the scale items were grouped under three factors and these factors were named as Alternatives, Social Cohesion and Control. In another group, Confirmatory Factor analysis was performed and it was observed that χ²/sd=1.200 value was below 2, CFI and TLI values were above 0.95, SRMR and RMSEA values were below 0.05, and the values of these values indicated a perfect fit. Within the scope of the reliability study of the scale, the Cronbach Alpha internal consistency reliability coefficients were found to be .76, .65, .58, and .76 for the Alternatives, Social Cohesion and Control sub-dimensions and total, respectively. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the scale developed has a negative and significant relationship with Automatic Thoughts of Children. Cognitive flexibility levels were examined according to demographic variables, and there was no significant difference according to gender; In the control sub-dimension of the scale, it was found that students with low economic income had a higher level of cognitive flexibility than students with high economic income. On the other hand, it was found that the alternatives dimension and overall scores of the scale were higher for the children whose mothers had a university education level than those whose mothers were at secondary school or other education levels. In the social cohesion dimension, it was determined that the cognitive flexibility scores of the children whose mother's education level was secondary school were lower than the children whose mother's education level was university, high school and primary school. The findings showed that the Children's Cognitive Flexibility Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool in assessing children's cognitive flexibility. Keywords: validity and reliability, automatic thoughts, cognitive flexibility, scale development