title: Use of the ages and stages questionnaire adapted for South Africa and Zambia.
abstract: There are few readily available, relatively easy to use and culturally adaptable developmental assessment tools for young children in southern Africa. The overarching aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties, contextual appropriateness and cut-off scores across 21 age groups of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire Third Edition (Squires & Bricker, ) among a group of typically developing children in South Africa and Zambia through a combination of both caregiver-report and direct observations, and to compare children's performance across sociodemographic variables.
  
  
  
  The sample consisted of 853 children (50.5% Zambia, with 50.1% girls for Zambia and 50% girls for South Africa) aged 2 months to 60 months. Information on caregiver employment, education and household assets were also obtained.
  
  
  
  The psychometric properties of the ASQ-3 in southern Africa are consistent with those found in the extant literature. Analysis of item difficulty at each age reveals adequate levels of difficulty for majority of the items, with exception of the problem solving domain where half of the items at 54 and 60 months have poor pass rates. Sociodemographic variables were significantly associated with children's performance: higher caregiver levels of education are associated with higher toddler scores on the personal-social domain and higher preschooler scores on the problem solving domain; children whose caregivers earn a salary have higher fine motor scores during toddlerhood and higher problem solving scores during preschool and children who attend preschools have higher gross motor scores during toddlerhood and higher fine motor scores during the preschool years.
  
  
  
  Findings provide evidence to support the psychometric properties and feasibility of using the ASQ-3 in both South Africa and Zambia through a combination of caregiver-report and direct observations.
authors.affiliation: MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Gauteng, South Africa.
authors.forename: C
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7002-5946
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hsiao
authors.affiliation: DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development, University of the Witwatersrand, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa.|Human Sciences Research Council, Dalridge, Durban, South Africa.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.affiliation: Human Sciences Research Council, Dalridge, Durban, South Africa.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Makusha
authors.affiliation: University of Zambia, Department of Educational Psychology, Sociology and Special Education, University of Zambia, School of Education, Lusaka, Zambia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Matafwali
authors.affiliation: Human Sciences Research Council, Dalridge, Durban, South Africa.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Heerden
authors.affiliation: Human Sciences Research Council, Dalridge, Durban, South Africa.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mabaso
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D017028:Caregivers; D002657:Child Development; D003142:Communication; D004522:Educational Status; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015024:Zambia
keywords: ages and stages questionnaire; child development assessment; early childhood development; southern Africa