Methodology of the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC)

Abstract

Researchers at all sites recruited samples of about 50 families of toddlers who were roughly between 18 and 36 months of age. A total of 865 families were recruited, although only the 853 indicating the sex of their child were included in analyses. Only one child was selected per family, and children with clinical diagnoses were excluded. For all but two countries, data were collected in a single site. In the Netherlands and the United States (US), data from two locations were combined. Our recruitment approaches necessarily differed by site, as is common with cross-cultural research (Keller, 2007), because identical techniques are not viable in all locations. At the same time, our samples can be thought of as similarly representative of communities from which they were recruited. There was some variability in demographic characteristics

Relations between bedtime parenting behaviors and temperament across 14 cultures

“…JETTC sites were selected to capture a wide range of geographic regions with meaningful variability in cultural orientation (e.g., individualism versus collectivism) and culturally driven parenting practices. These were also sites where investigators were using Rothbart temperament instruments, thus translation efforts had already been undertaken and relationships required for data collection established (for further details on the JETTC sites please see Chapter 2 Putnam et al (2018) ). Across the JETTC sites (i.e., Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Turkey, United States), mean enrollment was 61 families, ranging from a low of 49 families in Chile to a high of 119 families in the Netherlands ( Table 1 ).…”

“…According to the ECBQ development paper ( Putnam et al, 2006 ), this measure demonstrated moderate interrater reliability, longitudinal stability at a moderate to large level from the ages of six to 36 months, and adequate internal consistency. Regarding construct validity, studies have consistently found relations between ECBQ indicators and temperament scores obtained in infancy and childhood ( Putnam et al, 2018 ), as well as behavior problems ( Gartstein et al, 2012 ), including in countries other than the United States ( Gonzalez-Salinas et al, 2018 ). A study examining the Japanese version of the ECBQ further demonstrated that the measure showed internal consistency across its 18 scales and remained consistent across time (i.e., 18–36 months; Sukigara et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Over 20 papers document effective cross-cultural use of the ECBQ in the past 5 years, relating toddler temperament to constructs ranging from personality variables ( Putnam and Gartstein, 2017 ) to parenting techniques (e.g., overprotective parenting; Jones et al, 2021 ) to developmental disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, Vlaeminck et al, 2020 ; ADHD/ODD, Sánchez-Pérez et al, 2020 ). For each culture in this study, internal consistency reliability for all scores was examined, and items were subsequently dropped one-by-one across cultures to maximize the number of scales with α > 0.60 ( Putnam et al, 2018 ). As a result, three items were eliminated from activity level, two were deleted from both attention focusing and impulsivity, and one item each was removed from attention shifting, low-intensity pleasure, and shyness.…”

“…The DAQ is composed of 46 items, rated on a 6-point rating scale with responses that range from “0-Never” to “5-Very Often.” For the purpose of our study, we examined the section of the DAQ that asked about parental techniques used to assist children in falling asleep. Based on an exploratory factor analysis, these techniques were further categorized into active sleep-supporting techniques (i.e., walking in the stroller, going for a car ride, walking while holding, doing a special play activity) and passive sleep-supporting techniques (i.e., talking softly, reading stories, cuddling, and singing), following a “data-driven” approach (for more details see Putnam et al, 2018 ). The resulting 4-item scale reflecting active sleep techniques generated alphas > 0.60 in 9 of 14 countries, and the 4-item passive sleep techniques scale alphas were > 0.60 in 6 countries.…”

Links between television exposure and toddler dysregulation: Does culture matter?

“…Table adapted with permission from (Putnam et al, 2018). Although links between TV viewing and regulation in clinical populations are important to consider, related research questions were beyond the scope of the current investigation.…”