Can parents and teachers provide a reliable and valid report of behavioral inhibition?
Reliability and validity of parent and teacher report of behavioral inhibition (BI) was examined among children aged 3 to 5 years. Confirmatory factor analysis supported 6 correlated factors reflecting specific BI contexts, each loading on a single, higher order factor of BI. Internal consistency was acceptable, with moderate stability over 1 year and strong correlation with a brief inhibition subscale from a temperament questionnaire. Children who were rated by mothers and teachers as high BI took longer to initiate contact with a stranger, spoke less often and for shorter periods, and required more prompting to elicit speech compared with low-BI peers in a simulated stranger interaction task. Father report of BI was significantly associated with mean duration of speech and eye gaze.
Bishop
Gillian
G
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Spence
Susan H
SH
McDonald
Casey
C
D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012792:Shyness; D012919:Social Behavior