Measuring Positive and Negative Affect in a School-Based Sample: A Polish Version of the PANAS-C

Students in Grades 4–6 (N = 722) completed a Polish-language version of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C; Laurent et al. Psychological Assessment, 11, 326–338, 1999). The psychometric properties of the Polish PANAS-C were examined using methods employed by other validation studies. Additionally, two alternative models suggested in the literature – a 10-item PANAS-C (Ebesutani et al. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 34, 191–203, 2012) and a second-order PANAS-C (Ebesutani et al. Psychological Assessment, 23, 679–691, 2011a) – were tested. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the 10-item version performed better that the two remaining versions. The analyses for the original 2-factor model and the second-order model suggested that the underlying structure of the PANAS-C, similar to the structure of the original PANAS, may be more complex than initially assumed. The PA and NA scores were related to traditional self-report measures of child anxiety and depression demonstrating that the pattern of correlations was consistent with the tripartite model of affective disorders. Gender and age differences were also consistent with those reported in the literature. Together these results suggest that the Polish-language version adds to the expanding number of translations of the PANAS-C, indicating that the scale can be used with samples from culturally diverse backgrounds.