Title

Psychometric Properties of a Short Version of the Maternal Behavior Q-sort: What You Need to Know Before Analyzing the Data

Authors

Heidi N. Bailey, University of Guelph
Rossana Bisceglia, University of Toronto
Jacqueline Roche, University of Guelph
Jennifer Jenkins, University of Toronto
Greg Moran, University of Western OntarioFollow

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

4-2009

Abstract

OVERVIEW • N =116 mother-infant dyads (2 months old) • Coders completed the MBQS-mini 2 ways—forced vs. unforced q-sort distributions—to determine whether psychometric properties differed.

SENSITIVITY SCORES: • were virtually identical:r= .99.

BEHAVIORAL DOMAINS: • Attachment related domains: esponsiveness, Non-Interference, Affective Communication. • For all 3 (but not the Teaching domain) forced and unforced were highly correlated, and high internal consistency.

CONCLUSIONS: • Results support the use of forced q-sort data, but show no benefits associated with using forced over unforced distributions. Internal consistency was higher for the unforced teaching domain.

Notes

Presented at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, Colorado.