Altruistic Orientation in Children: Construction and Validation of the Child Altruism Inventory

The Child Altruism Inventory (CAI) consisted of 24 yes‐or‐no items which measured the altruistic orientation of children. The sample included 1095 Grades 2 to 6 Chinese children in Hong Kong, The test‐retest and internal consistency reliabilities of the CAI were in the 0.70s. The correlations of the CAI score with the intelligence and self‐esteem scores were significantly positive, while the correlations of the CAI score with the psychoticism and neuroticism scores were significantly negative. Children in classes of positive and negative social environment rated high and low on the CAI respectively. The relations of the CAI score with self‐report prosocial and delinquent behavioural indices were also positive and negative respectively. The psychometric properties of the CAI are regarded as quite good.