title: The Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment: screening for social-emotional problems and delays in competence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the reliability and validity of the 42-item Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA), a screener for social-emotional/behavioral problems and delays in competence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parents in a representative healthy birth cohort of 1,237 infants aged 12 to 36 months completed the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA)/BITSEA, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)/1.5-5, the MacArthur Communication Developmental Inventory vocabulary checklist, and worry questions. In a subsample, independent evaluators rated infant-toddler behavior.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Test-retest reliability was excellent and interrater agreement (mother/father and parent/child-care provider) was good. Supporting validity, BITSEA problems correlated with concurrent evaluator problem ratings and CBCL/1.5-5 scores and also predicted CBCL/1.5-5 and ITSEA problem scores one year later. BITSEA measures of competence correlated with concurrent observed competence and predicted later ITSEA competence measures. Supporting discriminant validity, only 23% of high BITSEA problem scorers had delayed vocabulary. Moreover, the combined BITSEA problem/competence cutpoints identified 85% of subclinical/clinical CBCL/1.5-5 scores, while maintaining acceptable specificity (75%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings support the BITSEA as a screener for social-emotional/behavioral problems and delays in social-emotional competence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, PO Box 208034, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. margaret.briggs-gowan@yale.edu
authors.forename: Margaret J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Briggs-Gowan
authors.forename: Alice S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: Julia R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Irwin
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wachtel
authors.forename: Domenic V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Cicchetti
mesh_terms: D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003237:Connecticut; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity