Development and Assessment of Short and Very Short Forms of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised

Using data from parents of 761 infants from 6 independent samples, short (91 items, 14 scales) and very short (37 items, 3 broad scales) forms of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R), a well-established caregiver report measure of temperament for infants aged 3 to 12 months, were developed. The forms were subsequently evaluated with data from 1,619 participants from 11 samples. Over 90% of Cronbach's alphas and part-whole correlations calculated for the short and very short form scales were greater than .70. Interparent agreement was nearly identical to that obtained with standard IBQ-R scales, averaging .41 and ranging from .06 to .76. Longitudinal stability over multiple time spans, and estimated retest reliability of the short form scales, were highly similar to those of standard forms, with estimated retest reliability averaging .72 and ranging from .54 to .93. Convergent and predictive validity of select short form scales were comparable to, but slightly lower, than those observed for standard IBQ-R scales. Recommendations for the use of the standard, short, and very short scales are discussed.