Multimethod Assessment of Infant Temperament: Mother Questionnaire and Mother and Observer Reports evaluated and compared at Five Months using the Infant Temperament Measure

Abstract

This study of infant temperament had two goals. The first was to develop a design that allowed comparisons of global maternal opinion assessed via questionnaire, maternal report on direct observation, and observer report on direct observation of the same infant temperament behaviours. The second goal was to evaluate a common set of behaviours consensually thought to index temperament from these diverse perspectives. To meet these goals, individual variation, short-term stability, and convergence between mother and observer for a single series of temperament items were examined. On two home visits spaced six days apart, observers recorded infant behaviours during a structured series of vignettes, and mothers reported on those behaviours. Mothers also completed questionnaires corresponding to these assessments before the first and after the second home visit. Infants were five months old. Items were collected in the Infant Temperament Measure. Behavioural items in observational forms of the ITM proved psychometrically adequate; they showed both individual variation and short-term stability. No agreement between mother ratings made before and after the home visits with observer assessments was found, but mother-observer agreement for assessments based on the home visits was significant, if moderate. Mother and observer each showed overall reliability between the two home visits, and mothers showed moderate to high agreement in global ratings across the assessment series.