Turkish Adaptation and Validation of Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire Parent Form

Behavioral inhibition has been proposed as a temperamental risk factor for the development of childhood anxiety disorders universally; however, there is no validated instrument for, especially, its evaluation in Turkish children. This study aimed to examine reliability and validity of the Turkish version of Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire parent form for children aged 3-7 years.

Around 250 mothers or fathers of 3-7 years old children were recruited from non-clinical population to collect responses to the questionnaires. The sample was created by reaching 3 schools at preschool or elementary grade for the purpose of providing the questionnaires filled about the student and/or his/her little sisters and brothers by their parents; questionnaires were sent out to parents and then gathered. Parents were asked to fill sociodemographic data form, Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire parent form, Children Behavior Questionnaire, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionaire parent form in order to perform convergent and divergent validity analyses.

As a result of reliability analysis, total Cronbach alpha coefficient for Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire was determined as 0.92 with strong reliability. The internal consistency coefficients for Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire subscales also showed strong reliability with alphas ranging between 0.81 and 0.87 except for the performance (α = 0.69) and physical challenges (α = 0.19) subscales of which some items were excluded due to item-total correlations and confirmatory factor analysis results. In the validity assessment analyses, confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire has a construct validity with 5 factors loaded on the 2-second order main factors and one third-order final factor (root mean square error = 0.032, root mean square residual = 0.153, Comparative Fit Index = 0.978, Goodness of Fit İndex = 0.915, and Turker-Lewis Index = 0.970). While the strongest correlations with the overall Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire score were found for 2 main subscales, inhibition to social novelties (r = 0.926, P < .001) and situational novelties (r = 0.928, P < .001), similarly peers (r = 0.848, P < .001) and new situations (r = 0.898, P < .001) subscales, had strong correlations with the overall Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire score. The weakest correlation with overall Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire score was observed for physical challenges subscale even though this subscale displayed moderate association (r = 0.454, P < .001). A good convergent validity was determined accompanied by significant moderate positive correlations with Children Behavior Questionnaire shyness and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire internalizing scales. An adequate divergent validity was also demonstrated based on significant positive mild to moderate correlations with Children Behavior Questionnaire impulsivity, Children Behavior Questionnaire smiling/laugh, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire prosocial scales, and non-significant correlation with Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire externalizing scale.

The study demonstrated that the Turkish version of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire parent form is an effective tool with good reliability and validity among 3-7 years old children.