The effects of 'does not apply' on measurement of temperament with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised: A cautionary tale for very young infants

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire - Revised: psychometric properties at 2 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months of life

BACKGROUND

Temperament characteristics are key elements for infants' development. The Infant Behavior Questionnaire - Revised (IBQ-R) is one of the most used measures to assess temperament in infants aged between 3 and 12 months. Its reliability and factor structure have not yet been examined in infants younger than 3 months.

AIMS

To analyze the reliability of the IBQ-R at 2 weeks and the IBQ-R factor structure from 2 weeks to 12 months of life.

METHOD

A longitudinal repeated measures design was used. Three hundred mothers completed the IBQ-R when their infants were 2 weeks, and 3, 6 and 12 months.

RESULTS

At 2 weeks the proportion of "non-applicable" responses was higher in duration of orienting, high intensity pleasure, approach and smiling and laughter scales. The Cronbach's alpha for the IBQ-R dimensions ranged between 0.62 and 0.63 and the McDonald's omega ranged between 0.67 and 0.80, all dimensions exhibited a mean-scale correlation above 0.15, and more than half of the scales revealed a scale-dimension correlation higher than 0.30. The same factor structure was found at 2 weeks, and at 3, 6, and 12 months: surgency/extraversion, p < 0.001, negative affectivity, p < 0.001, and orienting regulation, p = 0.007.

CONCLUSIONS

The IBQ-R may be applied in the first weeks of life and its factor structure remains stable when applied across different ages throughout infancy.

Psychometric Properties of Child (0-5 Years) Outcome Measures as used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: A Systematic Review

This systematic review is one of the three which sought to identify measures commonly implemented in parenting program research, and to assess the level of psychometric evidence available for their use with this age group. This review focuses specifically on measures of child social-emotional and behavioral outcomes. Two separate searches of the same databases were conducted; firstly to identify eligible instruments, and secondly to identify studies reporting on the psychometric properties of the identified measures. Five commercial platforms hosting 19 electronic databases were searched from their inception to conducted search dates. Twenty-four measures were identified from Search 1: a systematic search of randomized controlled trial evaluations of parenting programs. For Search 2, inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied to 21,329 articles that described the development and/or validation of the 24 measures identified in Search 1. Thirty articles met the inclusion criteria. resulting in 11 parent report questionnaires and three developmental assessment measures for review. Data were extracted and synthesized to describe the methodological quality of each article using the COSMIN checklist alongside the overall quality rating of the psychometric property reported for each measure. Measure reliability was categorized into four domains (internal consistency, test-re-test, inter-rater, and intra-rater). Measure validity was categorized into four domains (content, structural, convergent/divergent, and discriminant). Results indicated that supporting evidence for included measures is weak. Further work is required to improve the evidence base for those measures designed to assess children's social-emotional and behavioral development in this age group. PROSPERO Registration number: CRD42016039600.