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This article describes the development, reliability, and factor structure of a finely differentiated (18 dimensions) parent-report measure of temperament in 1.5 to 3-year-old children, using a crosssectional sample (N = 317) and a longitudinal sample of primary (N = 104) and secondary (N = 61) caregivers. Adequate internal consistency was demonstrated for all scales and moderate interrater reliability was evident for most scales. Longitudinal stability correlations were primarily large over 6-and 12-month spans and moderate to large from 18 to 36 months. Factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure of Surgency/Extraversion, Negative Affectivity, and Effortful Control. In both samples and for both primary and secondary caregivers, older children received higher scores for Attention Focusing, Discomfort, Inhibitory Control, and Positive Anticipation. Primary caregivers rated females higher in Fear, and lower in High-intensity Pleasure, than males; secondary caregivers rated females higher than males in several aspects of Effortful Control.Increases in the number of empirical studies of temperament in recent years (Rothbart & Bates, 1998, in press) have been matched by an expanded and more finely defined list of dimensions considered within the temperament realm. Although fine-grained instruments have been developed to assess temperament in infants (Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003) and older children (Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001), an analogous instrument appropriate for use with children between the ages of 1 and 3 has not been made available. The current study describes the psychometric characteristics, factor structure, and demographic correlates of an instrument designed to fill this gap: the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ).The ECBQ was originally designed to supplement the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ; Goldsmith, 1996), a widely-used parent-report temperament questionnaire for young children. The TBAQ includes 108 items that address five aspects of temperament: Activity Level, Pleasure, Social Fearfulness, Anger Proneness, and Interest/ Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sam Putnam, Department of Psychology, Bowdoin College, 6900 College Station, Brunswick, ME 04011. Persistence. Goldsmith (1996) documented internal consistency and interrater reliability of the instrument, as well as convergence with other temperament measures. Subsequent studies (e.g., Eiden, Edwards, & Leonard, 2004;Kochanska & Knaack, 2003;Lemery, Goldsmith, Klinnert, & Mrazek, 1999) have provided support for the construct validity of the instrument. The value of this measure is further indicated by successful translations to Japanese (Kusanagi, Chen, & Hoshi, 2000), Spanish (Salinas, Montesinos, & Carnicero, 1999), and Dutch (Van Bakel & Riksen-Walraven, 2004).Several aspects of temperament assessed by the new instrument, but not the TBAQ, reflect differences between our theoretical approach and the approach that guided the creation of the TBAQ. Whereas Gold...

Using data from parents of 761 infants from 6 independent samples, short (91 items, 14 scales) and very short (37 items, 3 broad scales) forms of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R), a well-established caregiver report measure of temperament for infants aged 3 to 12 months, were developed. The forms were subsequently evaluated with data from 1,619 participants from 11 samples. Over 90% of Cronbach's alphas and part-whole correlations calculated for the short and very short form scales were greater than.70. Interparent agreement was nearly identical to that obtained with standard IBQ-R scales, averaging.41 and ranging from.06 to.76. Longitudinal stability over multiple time spans, and estimated retest reliability of the short form scales, were highly similar to those of standard forms, with estimated retest reliability averaging.72 and ranging from.54 to.93. Convergent and predictive validity of select short form scales were comparable to, but slightly lower, than those observed for standard IBQ-R scales. Recommendations for the use of the standard, short, and very short scales are discussed.

Longitudinal continuity was investigated for fine‐grained and factor‐level aspects of temperament measured with the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire‐Revised (IBQ‐R), Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (ECBQ), and Children's Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ). Considerable homotypic continuity was found. Convergent and discriminant validity of the measures was supported, as all fine‐grained dimensions exhibited stability across adjacent measurement periods, and all scales found on both the ECBQ and CBQ were most highly correlated with their equivalent scales. At the factor level, Surgency and Negative Affect factors were stable across all time points, and Effortful Control/Regulatory Capacity was stable across adjacent time periods. High‐Intensity Pleasure, Activity Level, and Impulsivity contributed strongly to continuity of Surgency, and Sadness, Frustration, and Falling Reactivity played strong roles in the continuity of Negative Affect. Heterotypic continuity was also found. High levels of Infant Surgency predicted high toddler Effortful Control, whereas high toddler Surgency predicted low Effortful Control in preschoolers. Infant Surgency dimensions especially predicted Toddler Attention Shifting and Low‐Intensity Pleasure, and toddler Activity Level was most closely associated with later deficits in Effortful Control. Inverse relations were also obtained between Negative Affect and Effortful Control, with substantial negative connections between toddler Negative Affect and preschool Attention Focusing and Inhibitory Control. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The present study was conducted to examine the contributions of early appearing temperament attributes to toddler and preschool-age behavior problems. High levels of negative emotionality and low levels of effortful control were linked to both externalizing and internalizing difficulties. All fine-grained dimensions of negative affect were concurrently associated with internalizing problems whereas relations between components of negative affect and externalizing were observed only for frustration, sadness, and low falling reactivity. Higher surgency was associated with increased risk for externalizing behaviors whereas low surgency increased the likelihood of internalizing problems. Trait-by-trait moderation occurred, such that negative emotionality was most closely related to behavior problems when orienting/regulatory capacity or effortful control was low or when infant surgency was high. Results of this study have implications for theory linking temperament and psychopathology, and clinical applications utilizing temperament assessment to prevent behavior problems.

Children with cancer currently receiving chemotherapy were remarkably similar to case controls on measures of emotional well-being and better on several dimensions of social functioning. These findings are not supportive of disability/stress models of childhood chronic illness and suggest considerable psychologic hardiness.

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Caregiver depression has been described as leading to overreport of child behavior problems. This study examines this "depression-distortion" hypothesis in terms of high-risk families of young adolescents. Questionnaire and diagnostic interview data were collected from mothers, teachers, and fathers, and self-report information was obtained from youth between ages 10 and 14 years. First, convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated for internalizing and externalizing multiagent constructs. Second, the depression-distortion hypothesis was examined, revealing a modest effect of maternal depression, leading to the inflation of reported son externalizing and daughter internalizing problems. The data suggest the need to consider multiple influences on parental perceptions of child behavior and psychopathology in research and clinical settings.