Measures related to self-regulation in early childhood were selected from the LSAC dataset following the review of literature conducted for Chapter 2. The aim was
69 to select measures that tapped each of the behavioural, emotional and cognitive domains of self-regulation at each wave of data collection. The LSAC variables were searched for items related to early feeding, crying and sleeping problems as prior research has identified these as an important constellation of behaviours in consideration of early regulatory abilities (Schmid et al., 2010). There were no measures related to crying in LSAC and only a single item in infancy reflected early feeding difficulties, but this was not represented at any other wave. Maternal report of temperament and sleep problems were available at each wave of LSAC and have been used in previous studies to reflect self-regulation (Choe, 2012; Schmid et al., 2010; Spinrad et al., 2012). These were therefore selected for use in the current program of research as measures of self- regulation. These variables are summarised in Table 3.2 and further detail on each is provided below. Variable labels used in the LSAC dataset for these items can be found in Appendix D
Short Temperament Scale for Infants (STSI)
The Short Temperament Scale for Infants (STSI) was originally developed for the Australian Temperament Project (ATP; Prior, Sanson, & Oberklaid, 1989), by using established items from the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ; Carey & McDevitt, 1978). This saw the original nine factor structure of the RITQ reduced to five factors for the STSI-ATP. This was then further reduced to three factors for the
purposes of LSAC. The STSI-LSAC has a total of 12 items, and is designed to assess temperament in children younger than 12 months of age. It is used only in Wave 1 of LSAC. Parents respond to items on a 6-point scale: 1 = almost never to, 6 = almost always.
The STSI is composed of three subscales: approach, which refers to the infant’s degree of comfort in new situations or when meeting new people, cooperation, how cooperative/adaptable the baby is and irritability, how difficult it is to soothe the baby (Sanson et al., 1987). Typically, to score the scale, individual item scores are summed for each subscale with three items reversed as required. Summed scores are averaged to reflect the original scale, with scores ranging from one to six. Higher scores reflect high sociability, high cooperation and high irritability. Sanson and colleagues (1987)
investigated the measurement properties of the STSI-ATP (1987) and found that it had moderate internal consistency with a median alpha coefficient of .61 and test-retest
70 reliability of an average of .81. It is unknown to what extent the STSI-LSAC has been tested for its measurement properties as no literature has been found to date on the subject.
Table 3.2 Summary of self-regulation measures for the current study
Wave Measure Located in Scales –
items Response scale Sample item 1 Short Temperament Scale Infants (STSI) Leave behind questionnaire Irritability – 4 items 1= almost never to 6 = almost always
This baby amuses self for ½ hour or more in cot of playpen Biobehavioural regulation Interview Sleeping problems - 4 items Yes / no on each item
Does your child have any of these problems on 4 or more nights a week: difficulty getting to sleep; not happy to sleep along; walking during the night; restless sleep? 2 Short Temperament Scale Toddlers (STST) Leave behind questionnaire Persistency – 5 items 1= almost never to 6 = almost always.
This child goes back to the same activity after a brief interruption Reactivity – 4 items 1= almost never to 6 = almost always
This child responds to frustration intensely Biobehavioural regulation Interview Sleeping problems - 4 items Yes / no on each item As per Wave 1 3 Short Temperament Scale Children (STSC) Complete during interview Persistency – 4 items 1= almost never to 6 = almost always.
When a toy or game becomes difficult, this child quickly turns to another activity (reverse coded) Reactivity - 4 items 1= almost never to 6 = almost always
When this child is angry about something, it is difficult to sidetrack him / her (reverse coded) Biobehavioural regulation Interview Sleeping problems - 4 items Yes / no on each item As per Wave 1
Although none of the three scales of the STSI-LSAC specifically refer to self- regulation in the infant period, the irritability scale was selected for use in this study. This is because it has been noted that reactivity (measured by the irritability scale) can be considered a component of emotional self-regulation, particularly in infancy (Blair et al., 2010). Scores were reverse coded in order for higher scores to reflect lower
irritability and potentially higher regulatory skills. The scale was also renamed reactivity for the purposes of this study in order to match the names of similar scales
71 used in Waves 2 and 3. A latent variable approach is taken by modelling the latent variable for reactivity as indicated by the four items that make up the scale, rather than creating a composite score as is typically done. The items making up the scale are detailed in Table 3.3.
Short Temperament Scale for Toddlers (STST)
The Short Temperament Scale for Toddlers (STST) was also originally
developed for the Australian Temperament Project (ATP; Prior et al., 1989), by using established items from the Toddler Temperament Scale (TTS; Fullard, McDevitt, & Carey, 1984). The STST-LSAC has a total of 12 items, and is designed to assess temperament in children aged 1 to 3 years. It is used only in Wave 2 of LSAC. As per the STSI, parents respond to items on a 6-point scale: 1 = almost never to, 6 = almost always.
The STST is composed of three subscales: approach which assesses the tendency to approach versus withdraw from novel situations or people; persistence which measures the degree of persistence a child displays in completing tasks or activities; and, reactivity which assesses the degree of negative reactivity a child displays. Typically to score the scale, individual item scores are summed for each subscale with three items reversed as required. Summed scores are averaged to reflect the original scale, with scores ranging from one to six. Higher scores reflect high approach, high persistence and high reactivity. In an early Australian study using the TTS, the scale was found to have moderate internal consistency with a mean alpha coefficient of .71 (range .55 to .87; Oberklaid, Prior, Sanson, Sewell, & Kyrios, 1990). It is unknown to what extent the STST-LSAC has been tested for its measurement properties as no literature has been found to date on the subject.
For the current study, the persistency subscale was selected to tap cognitive regulation while the reactivity subscale was selected to tap emotional reactivity and regulation. The scores on the reactivity scale were reverse coded in order for higher scores to reflect lower reactivity and potentially higher regulatory skills. Again, a latent variable approach is taken by modelling the latent variables for reactivity and
persistence as indicated by the items that make up those scales. These items are detailed in Table 3.3.
72 Short Temperament Scale for Children (STSC)
The Short Temperament Scale for Children (STSC) was also originally developed for the ATP, following factor analysis (Prior et al., 1989) of the Childhood Temperament Questionnaire (CTP; Thomas & Chess, 1977). While the original scale had thirty items, the STSC-LSAC is a 12-item parental/carer report inventory. The STSC is designed to assess temperament dimensions in children aged between 3 and 7 and is used from Wave 3 on in LSAC. Parent responses are on a 6-point scale where 1 = almost never to 6 = almost always. The STSC-LSAC consists of the same three
subscales as the STST-LSAC which are called sociability (previously approach), persistence and reactivity. The STSC-LSAC is scored in the same way as the STST- LSAC.
The STSC-ATP has been found to have adequate internal consistency, response range, and independence of dimensions and adequate reliability (Cronbach's alpha: Approach = .85, Persistence = .83, Inflexibility = .82; Sanson et al., 1994). Little, Sanson and Zubrick (2012) recently reported internal consistency estimates of the STSC-LSAC that were lower than the STSC-ATP, particularly for reactivity (Approach = .82 in Indigenous LSAC children and .81 in non-Indigenous LSAC children;
Persistence = .79; Reactivity = .59 in Indigenous LSAC group and .69 in non- Indigenous children).
For the current study, the persistency subscale was again selected to tap cognitive regulation and the reactivity subscale to tap emotional regulation. Scores on the reactivity scale were again reverse coded in the opposite direction to the original scale, in order for higher scores to reflect lower reactivity and potentially higher regulatory skills. The same latent variable modelling approach described for Wave 1 and Wave 2 was also taken, rather than creating composite scale scores. The items making up the Wave 3 persistency and reactivity scales are detailed in Table 3.3.
73
Table 3.3 Self-regulation items selected from the temperament scales in LSAC
Wave Scale Items
1 Reactivity The baby is fretful on waking up and / or going to sleep (frowns, cries) [reverse scored]
This baby amuses self for ½ hour or more in cot or playpen (looking at mobile, playing with toys etc) This baby continues to cry in spite of several minutes of soothing [reverse scored]
This baby cries when left to play alone [reverse scored]
2 Reactivity This child responds to frustration intensely (scream, yells) [reverse scored] This child has moody “off” days when he/she is irritable all day [reverse scored]
This child shows much bodily movement (stomps, writhes, swings arms) when upset or crying [reverse scored] This child reacts strongly (cries, screams) when unable to complete a play activity [reverse scored]
Persistence This child plays continuously for more than 10 minutes at a time with a favourite toy This child goes back to the same activity after a brief interruption (snack, trip to toilet) This child stays with a routine task (dressing, picking up toys) for 5 minutes or more This child practices a new skills (throwing, building, drawing) for 10 minutes or more
3 Reactivity If this child wants a toy or sweet when shopping, he or she will easily accept something else instead When this child is angry about something, it is difficult to sidetrack him/her [reverse scored]
When shopping together, if I do not buy what this child wants (e.g., sweets, clothing) he/she cries and yells [reverse scored] If this child is upset, it is hard to comfort him/her [reverse scored]
Persistence When this child starts a project such as a puzzle, he/she works on it until it is completed even if it takes a long time This child likes to complete one task or activity before going on to the next
This child stays with an activity (e.g., puzzle, construction kit, reading for a long time) When a toy or game is difficult, this child quickly turns to another activity [reverse scored]
74 Biobehavioural regulation
Sleep problems were measured by items from The Infant Sleep Study (Bayer, Hiscock, Hampton, & Wake, 2007). The modified items examine specific sleep problems that the study child may suffer, such as sleeping alone, nightmares, waking, unable to get to sleep etcetera. Parents are asked at each wave of data collection to indicate if their child has “any of these problems on four or more nights a week, or more than half the time?” Four items of interest were selected for use in the current study, due to their potential to tap biobehavioural regulation in infants and children (and their consistency across Waves 1 to 3). These were difficulty getting off to sleep at night, not happy to sleep alone, waking during the night and restless sleep. Responses were reverse scored in order for higher scores to reflect a greater capacity to regulate,
demonstrated through lower levels of sleeping problems. These items are also used in a latent variable modelling approach to measurement development.