Work

Measurement invariance and child temperament: An evaluation of sex and informant differences on the Child Behavior Questionnaire.

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: Parent reports of temperament are used to study many important topics in child development, such as whether boys and girls differ in their levels of emotional reactivity and self-regulation. However, questions regarding measurement equivalence in parental reports of temperament are largely unexplored, despite the fact that this issue is critical for drawing the correct conclusions from mean-level comparisons. In the current study, measurement invariance across boys and girls (as targets), and mothers and fathers (as informants), was investigated in the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; Rothbart et al., 2001) using a sample of children ranging in age from 3 to 7 years (N = 605). Several instances of noninvariance were identified across both girls and boys, and mothers and fathers. An evaluation of effect size indices suggests that the practical impact of this noninvariance ranges from negligible to moderate. All told, this study illustrates the importance of taking a psychometrically informed approach to the use of parent reports of child temperament. (PsycINFO Database Record

Source: Psychological Assessment

DOI: 10.1037/pas0000299

Authors: D. Angus Clark, Caitlin J. Listro, Sharon L. Lo, C. Emily Durbin, M. Brent Donnellan, Tricia K. Neppl

Institutions: Texas A&M University, Iowa State University

Language: English

Topic: Psychometric Methodologies and Testing

Subfield: Management Science and Operations Research

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: Northwestern University, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: G119214941, Neurobehavioral Liabilities of Precursive Risk for SUDS in Children, A Genetic Study of Personal Traits that Promote or Inhibit Individual Well-Being