Deriving childhood temperament measures from emotion-eliciting behavioral episodes: Scale construction and initial validation.

Abstract

The authors describe the development and initial validation of a home-based version of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB), which was designed to assess childhood temperament using a comprehensive series of emotion-eliciting behavioral episodes. This paper provides researchers with general guidelines for assessing specific behaviors using the Lab-TAB and for forming behavioral composites that correspond to commonly researched temperament dimensions. We used mother ratings and independent post-visit observer ratings to provide validity evidence in a community sample of 4.5 year-old children. 12 Lab-TAB behavioral episodes were employed, yielding 24 within-episode temperament components that collapsed into 9 higher-level composites (Anger, Sadness, Fear, Shyness, Positive Expression, Approach, Active Engagement, Persistence, and Inhibitory Control). These dimensions of temperament are similar to those found in questionnaire-based assessments. Correlations among the 9 composites were low to moderate, suggesting relative independence. As expected, agreement between Lab-TAB measures and post-visit observer ratings was stronger than agreement between the Lab-TAB and mother questionnaire. However, for Active Engagement and Shyness, mother ratings did predict child behavior in the Lab-TAB quite well. Findings demonstrate the feasibility of emotioneliciting temperament assessment methodologies, suggest appropriate methods for data aggregation into trait-level constructs, and set some expectations for associations between Lab-TAB dimensions and the degree of cross-method convergence between the Lab-TAB and other commonly used temperament assessments. KeywordsTemperament; Children; Behavioral Assessment; Scale Construction; Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jeffrey R. Gagne, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706-1611., jgagne@wisc.edu. Jeffrey R. Gagne, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin; Carol A. Van Hulle, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin; Nazan Aksan, Department of Psychology, Koc University; Marilyn J. Essex, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin; H. Hill Goldsmith, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin. Nazan Aksan is now at Department of Psychology, University of Iowa. Publisher's Disclaimer:The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at www.apa.org/pubs/journals/HEA NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptPsychol Assess. Author manuscript; available ...

Biobehavioral Indicators of Social Fear in Young Children With Fragile X Syndrome

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