Construct Validity of the Children’s Music-Related Behavior Questionnaire

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the construct validity of the Children’s Music-Related Behavior Questionnaire (CMRBQ), an instrument designed for parents to document music-related behaviors about their children and themselves. The research problem was to examine the hypothesized factorial structure of the questionnaire. From a national sample, parents of children 5 years old or younger returned 616 usable questionnaires. Items were parceled, and the model was subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis to assess the goodness of model-data fit for a one-factor solution using the parcels as indicators. Internal consistency of subscale reliability estimates ranged from α = .77 to α = .97. Three multiple fit indices suggested that the one-factor model adequately fit the data: standardized root square residual (.028), comparative fit index (.968), and Tucker-Lewis index (.955). Greater knowledge regarding parents’ observations of music’s role in children’s development may help researchers, practitioners, parents, and policy makers collaboratively consider how best to meet musical needs of young children in childcare and school settings.

Music@Home: A novel instrument to assess the home musical environment in the early years

“…Musical behaviours that emerged as important for each version reflected characteristics of the different age groups (e.g., example item from the infant version: “Music does not evoke a physical response from my child”; example item from the preschool version: “My child enjoys making sounds/interacting with musical instruments, including toy ones”). Children’s musical engagement and participation has been thoroughly addressed in the work of Valerio et al [ 42 ] who constructed a parent-report questionnaire with the specific aim of documenting preschool children’s musical behaviour (the Children’s Musical Behavior Inventory or CMBI) in order to best meet the musical needs in childcare and school settings. Although this is the only existing validated measurement of children’s musical engagement, the importance of observing and documenting aspects of the child’s music-related behaviour in musical development research and music education has long been recognized [ 43 ], [ 70 – 75 ].…”

“…Five items taken from the Parent Music Activities subscale of the Children’s Music Behavior Inventory (CMBI; [ 42 ]) to test for convergent validity. These items were selected from a subset of 10 items that had the highest loadings on the Parent Music Activities factor of the CMBI (Valerio Wendy, personal communication 03/06/2016).…”

“…The HOMES was not intended for the use with infants or preschoolers. Another validated instrument recently created to assess the musical behaviour of children under the age of 5, is the Children’s Musical Behavior Inventory or CMBI [ 42 ]. The CMBI is an 8-factor, 97-item parental report designed to assess the frequency by which children engage in a number of musical behaviours such as music-listening, singing and dancing, with the aim of identifying and meeting their musical needs in preschool education settings.…”

“…While seven of the eight factors in the CMBI are associated with child-initiated musical behaviours one factor also assessed the frequency of parent-initiated musical activities. The CMBI dimensions showed good reliability (Cronbach’s α ranged from .77 to .97) and adequate construct validity as tested with confirmatory factor analysis [ 42 ].…”

“…Indeed, most of the home musical environment measurements used so far have addressed specific aspects of this experience such as frequency of musical interactions while neglecting others, such as breadth of musical exposure or parental beliefs regarding music and development. In addition, apart from the CMBI [ 42 ] there is no available validated measurement instrument for the younger age group. Therefore, we deemed it necessary to create a systematic, easily administered and brief research tool that would encompass a range of parent and child musical behaviours for children under the age of 5.…”