Construct validity of the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Psychometrics
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Assessing early childhood development is crucial for timely intervention.
• The Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers (CDIIT) is a diagnostic tool used for this purpose.
• Investigating the construct validity of the CDIIT is essential to ensure its accurate measurement of developmental domains.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the construct validity of the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers (CDIIT).
• To determine the underlying factor structure of the CDIIT across different age groups.

Main Methods:

• A total of 1085 children across four age groups (infant, 1-year-old, 2-year-old, preschool) were included.
• Developmental Quotients from five CDIIT subtests (Cognition, Language, Motor, Social, Self-help) were analyzed.
• Iterative principal factor analysis with promax rotation was employed to explore the factor structure.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis indicated that the CDIIT's structure varied by age group.
• Younger children showed a two-factor solution, while older children (2-year-olds and preschoolers) exhibited two- or three-factor solutions.
• These findings suggest a more nuanced factor structure than initially proposed.

Conclusions:

• The empirical findings suggest that the CDIIT may not consistently measure five distinct constructs as originally theorized.
• The study identified two to three underlying constructs in the CDIIT across different developmental stages.
• These results have implications for the interpretation and application of CDIIT scores in developmental assessments.