The reliability and validity of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Child Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Parental reports are crucial for understanding infant temperament.
• The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) is a key tool for assessing infant temperament.
• Understanding the reliability and validity of the IBQ-R is essential for accurate research and clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) in a sample of 6-month-old infants.
• To examine the influence of parental depression and infant gender on the concordance between parent-reported and observed infant temperament.

Main Methods:

• 115 mothers and 79 fathers completed the IBQ-R and a depression measure.
• 98 infants underwent laboratory temperament assessments.
• Internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and convergent validity of the IBQ-R were analyzed.

Main Results:

• The IBQ-R demonstrated adequate internal consistency for all 14 subscales for both mothers and fathers.
• Inter-rater reliability between mother and father reports was found for 11 of 14 subscales.
• Convergent validity was supported for observed fear and parent-reported fear/approach.
• Parental depression moderated the agreement between parent reports and observed temperament, with higher concordance when parental depression was low.

Conclusions:

• The IBQ-R is a reliable and valid measure of infant temperament at 6 months.
• Parental mental health, specifically depression, influences the accuracy of temperament reporting.
• Infant gender did not significantly affect the concordance between parent reports and observed behaviors.