Quality of the home environment of toddlers: a validation study of the home inventory.
The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory is introduced in this study to examine the home environments of children (three to four and a half years) in Singapore. The Inventory comprises eight subscales and a total of 54 items with a higher score indicating an environment which provides more possibilities for development and growth. Various statistical tests were carried out to determine the validity of the Inventory for use in the local context. These showed the Inventory to be internally consistent and to possess construct validity in particular the HOME Inventory had been validated in correlation tests with demographic variables such as social class index (F = 8.01, p less than 0.0001), people to room ratio (r = -0.37, p less than 0.0001) and a measure of IQ (r = 0.0003). Norms for local toddlers were also provided. It was concluded that the Inventory would play a useful role in detecting children who are physically and intellectually less advanced due to a poorer home environment. This finding could possibly be used in an intervention programme in ameliorating these conditions.
Chua
K L
KL
Kong
D S
DS
Wong
S T
ST
Yoong
T
T
D002654:Child Care / Q000592:standards*; D002668:Child Rearing; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D012846:Singapore; D012931:Social Environment