Parenting interactions are important for children's early development, but existing observational measures of parenting are often difficult for practitioners to use in their work with parents and have been developed based on primarily European American middle-income parents. Practitioners working with parents of infants and young children need a psychometrically strong observational measure of parenting behaviors appropriate for diverse groups. We tested the reliability and validity of 89 specific parenting behavior items by having observers rate over 4,500 viderecorded observations of parent-infant interaction from the archive of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project and other research. These observations at multiple age points were from over 2,000 low-icome families, including European Americans, African Americans, and Latino Americans. Interrater agreement was tested for each item. Scale internal consistency and single-factor structure were tested within each of four domains-affection, responsiveness, encouragement, and teaching. Validity was tested with concurrent parenting measures and child development outcome measures. The 29 most consistently reliable and valid items comprise the final version of Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO), an evidence-based observational measure of parenting with very young children that is psychometrically sound and useful for practitioners working with diverse groups.

Research on fathers in Early Head Start (EHS) has provided an opportunity to study fathers from low-income families. We examined father-toddler social toy play in relation to EHS enrollment, fathers' psychosocial well-being, and children's developmental outcomes in a sample of 74 father-toddler dyads. Overall, our results show that father-toddler social toy play was more complex among fathers in an EHS program than among those in a comparison group. Greater complexity in father-toddler social toy play predicted better cognitive and social developmental outcomes for young children, especially in the program group, but it was limited by fathers' psychosocial well-being in the comparison group and by time availability in the program group. Nevertheless, the impact of EHS on father-toddler play suggests that an early intervention that targets father involvement can influence positive father-toddler interactions in ways that enhance early development.

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Home‐visiting programs aiming to improve early child development have demonstrated positive outcomes, but processes within home visits to individual families are rarely documented. We examined family‐level variations in the home‐visiting process (N = 71) from extant video recordings of home visits in two Early Head Start programs, using an observational measure of research‐based quality indicators of home‐visiting practices and family engagement, the Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS). HOVRS scores, showing good interrater agreement and internal consistency, were significantly associated with parent‐ and staff‐reported positive characteristics of home visiting as well as with parenting and child language outcomes tested at program exit. When home‐visiting processes were higher quality during the program, home visit content was more focused on child development, families were more involved in the overall program, and most important, scores on measures of the parenting environment and children's vocabulary were higher at the end of the program. Results showed that home visit quality was indirectly associated with child language outcomes through parenting outcomes. Observation ratings of home visit quality could be useful for guiding program improvement, supporting professional development, and increasing our understanding of the links between home‐visiting processes and outcomes.

The Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS) were initially developed from field‐based descriptions of successful home visits and are supported by home‐visiting research in multiple disciplines. Four home‐visiting practices scales include indicators of relationship building with families, responsiveness to family strengths, facilitation of parent–child interaction, and collaboration with parents. Three family engagement scales include indicators of parent–child interaction, parent engagement, and child engagement in the visit. The original version, the HOVRS‐1, was validated using video and data from two Early Head Start home‐visiting programs. Conceptual and structural changes for the HOVRS‐3 were designed to improve readability, usability, and clarity. Newly trained observers used the HOVRS‐3 to observe archived videos from the original measurement sample. The HOVRS‐3 showed good interrater reliability, scale internal consistency, convergent validity, predictive validity, practical significance, and version stability. When the HOVRS‐3 home‐visit quality scores were higher, it was twice as likely for parenting scores to be average or better and for child language to be at age level or better at age 3 years, over and above parenting and child language at age 1 year. The HOVRS can guide observations of home‐visit quality in infant–toddler and early childhood programs to improve home‐visiting practices and family engagement.