Emotional Availability Scale Among Three U.S. Race/Ethnic Groups

Derscheid, Della; Fogg, Louis; Julion, Wrenetha; Johnson, Mary E.; Tucker, Sharon; Delaney, Kathleen R.

doi:10.1177/0193945918776617

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The INCAS emotional domain showed excellent internal consistency, which is in line with other observation instruments of emotional caregiving, such as the EA Scales (e.g., Derscheid et al., 2018). Similarly, we found good internal consistency for the instrumental domain.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

The Dutch Infant Caregiving Assessment Scales: Psychometric properties in mothers with and without a severe psychiatric disorder

Choenni

Kok

Verhulst

et al. 2022

Int J Methods Psych Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives This study examines the psychometric properties of the Dutch adaptation of the Infant Caregiving Assessment Scales (INCAS). This standardized observation procedure is the first to assess both emotional and instrumental caregiving skills of mothers with a severe psychiatric disorder, during the postpartum period. Methods Mothers with and without a severe psychiatric disorder (N = 123) were observed at home at the infant age of 6 weeks during daily caregiving; changing a diaper, bathing, dressing, and feeding. Recordings of observations were coded independently by trained coders, blind for group membership. Subsequently, the component structure, internal consistency, interrater reliability, and concurrent validity of the INCAS were examined. Results Principal component analysis largely confirmed the two a priori defined caregiving domains. The internal consistencies of the emotional and instrumental domains were deemed excellent and good, respectively. The interrater reliability was substantial for the emotional domain and moderate for the instrumental domain. Furthermore, evidence for good concurrent validity of the emotional domain was found. Lastly, significant correlations were found between specific instrumental caregiving skills and maternal neuropsychological functioning. Conclusion Psychometric findings support the INCAS as a comprehensive and reliable instrument for standardized assessment of caregiving by mothers with a severe psychiatric disorder.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

The Dutch Infant Caregiving Assessment Scales: Psychometric properties in mothers with and without a severe psychiatric disorder

Choenni

Kok

Verhulst

et al. 2022

Int J Methods Psych Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) appears to be in an acceptable range as reported in other publications (e.g., Derscheid et al, 2018). However, Cronbach's alpha does not re ect limitations by ceiling effects, which became more visible when computing the alternative test score PDTS.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…Other psychometric characteristics like interrater reliability do not seem to be a core issue of the EAS (Gridley et al, 2019;Kohlhoff et al, 2020;Licata et al, 2016). High internal consistency among the dimensions has also been repeatedly attested (Derscheid et al, 2018). However, high interrater reliability and high internal consistency are in agreement with a one-factor model, or, conversely, are results of a one-dimensional instrument.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Psychometric analysis of the Emotional Availability Scales

Müller,

Elvert

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the context of parent-child interaction, the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS; 4th ed.; Biringen, 2008) have been developed to capture a dyad’s emotional connection in observational settings by four parental and two child-related scales. This study aims to test the psychometric foundation of the EAS for a preschool-aged sample and complements analyses by Aran et al. (2022) for a sample of infants. The sample of parents and their preschool-aged children is a mixed clinically referred and non-clinical sample from a mid-sized city in Germany. Interactions were observed in a free-play setting and rated with the EAS by two blind and certificated raters. Several model tests indicate violations for the structural model as well as all six measurement models. An additional post hoc exploratory factor analysis with parallel analysis suggests a non-interpretable two-factor-structure. Psychometric analyses did not validate the EAS’ postulated structure and measurement model. A post hoc literature review showed that ceiling effects on the item and scale levels are not unique to our study. However traditional important concepts or terms of parent-child relationships covered by the EAS are not rejected by our study and can be assessed with alternative measures, but these also need psychometric evaluation in the future.

show abstract

“…In this study, the scores in structuring and sensitivity of Italian mothers were higher than the ones of mothers from the United States and Argentina. In a study by Derscheid (2012) and Derscheid et al (2019) with subcultural comparisons in the United States, no significant differences in EA were found between African American, Caucasian and Hispanic motherchild dyads.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Fostering Emotional Availability in Mother-Child-Dyads With an Immigrant Background: A Randomized-Controlled-Trial on the Effects of the Early Prevention Program First Steps

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundIn many Western countries like Germany, the social integration of children with an immigrant background has become an urgent social tasks. The probability of them living in high-risk environments and being disadvantaged regarding health and education-related variables is still relatively higher. Yet, promoting language acquisition is not the only relevant factor for their social integration, but also the support of earlier developmental processes associated with adequate early parenting in their first months of life. The Emotional Availability Scales (EAS) measure the quality of caregiver-child-interactions as an indicator of the quality of their relationship and thus of such early parenting, focusing on mutual and emotional aspects of their interaction.MethodThis pilot study examined in a randomized controlled trial the effects of the prevention project First Steps regarding the hypothesis that the Emotional Availability (EA) improved to a greater extent in “difficult-to-reach” immigrant mother-child dyads in a psychoanalytically oriented early intervention (A, FIRST STEPS) compared to a usual care intervention (B) offered by paraprofessionals with an immigrant background. A sample of N = 118 immigrant women in Germany from 37 different countries and their children was compared with regard to the parental EA-dimensions sensitivity, structuring, non-intrusiveness and non-hostility and the child dimensions responsiveness to and involvement of the caregiver in the pre-post RCT design.Results and ConclusionDifferent from what was expected, repeated ANOVAs revealed no significant pre-post group differences for the parental dimensions. For the child dimensions the effect of time of measurement was highly significant, which can be interpreted as mostly natural developmental effects. Still, on the level of simple main effects for each intervention, only in the FIRST STEPS groups child responsiveness significantly improved. When controlled for confounding variables, a significant interaction effect for maternal sensitivity in favor of the FIRST STEPS intervention was found. The systematic group differences indicate that the more extensive and professional intervention, focusing on the individual needs of the participants, is more suitable to support the quality of the mother-child-relationship amongst immigrant mother-child dyads than usual care. The results are discussed taking into account the context of the maternal migration process and potential maternal traumatization.Clinical Trial Registration[https://clinicaltrials.gov], identifier [DRKS00004632].

show abstract

Emotional Availability Scale Among Three U.S. Race/Ethnic Groups

Cited by 5 publications

References 59 publications

The Dutch Infant Caregiving Assessment Scales: Psychometric properties in mothers with and without a severe psychiatric disorder

The Dutch Infant Caregiving Assessment Scales: Psychometric properties in mothers with and without a severe psychiatric disorder

Psychometric analysis of the Emotional Availability Scales

Fostering Emotional Availability in Mother-Child-Dyads With an Immigrant Background: A Randomized-Controlled-Trial on the Effects of the Early Prevention Program First Steps

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About