Childhood Personality Scale (CPS)

Abstract

The Childhood Personality Scale (CPS) is a two-part Psychological Scale developed to assess both the behavioral characteristics of a child and the accompanying attitudes and behaviors of the primary caregiver. Part 1, the Child Personality section, focuses on observable Childhood Personality traits, requiring ratings on a 7-point frequency scale based on the child’s typical behavior over the preceding two months. Part 2 serves as a companion instrument, measuring aspects of Parental Style by contrasting the parent’s current self-reported behavior with their perception of the ideal parent.

Keywords

Childhood Personality Scale, CPS, child temperament, parental attitudes, parenting style, child behavior, psychological assessment, observational rating scale.

Authors

Eleanor Dibble, Donald J. Cohen, J.M. Grawe.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the CPS is to provide a comprehensive, multi-faceted assessment relevant for research and Clinical Practice concerning early childhood development. Part 1 specifically aims to capture a nuanced snapshot of the child’s typical behavioral patterns, focusing on frequency of specific actions and reactions over a defined period (e.g., the last two months).

Part 2 provides an essential context for the child’s behavior by evaluating parental perceptions and behaviors. This dual measurement allows researchers and clinicians to explore the transactional relationship between the child’s personality and the specific parenting environment, assessing dimensions such as parental warmth, control, and the perceived gap between actual and ideal parenting practices.

Construct

The CPS measures two distinct but interconnected psychological constructs. The first, assessed by Part 1, is Childhood Temperament or Personality, encompassing key observable traits such as activity level, frustration tolerance, mood, persistence, and sociability. Items are designed to capture specific behavioral manifestations of these traits, such as engagement in play, reaction to frustration, and social interaction.

The second construct, assessed by Part 2, is Parenting Behavior and Attitude. This section evaluates crucial dimensions of parental involvement, including discipline strategies, communication openness, emotional closeness, and the use of control or autonomy support. The use of a two-column rating system (actual vs. ideal parent) allows for the calculation of a discrepancy score, which is itself a valuable measure of parental insight and satisfaction.

Validity

While specific detailed psychometric data often requires reference to the original 1974 and 1977 publications, the continued use of the CPS in academic research supports its validity. The scale has been employed successfully in studies requiring the differentiation of child personality traits across various populations, including research involving mothers of children with Down Syndrome, suggesting strong criterion and construct relevance. Its structure, which relies on parental observation, inherently aligns with the ecological assessment of child behavior in the home environment.

Reliability

The reliability of the CPS is suggested by its inclusion in authoritative measure sourcebooks. Standard psychometric requirements for instruments of this nature include demonstrating high internal consistency (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) for the subscales of both the child personality and parental attitude sections. Furthermore, adequate test-retest reliability is necessary to ensure the stability of the measures of both child temperament and consistent parental reporting over time.

Factor Analysis

The development and subsequent validation of the CPS, particularly the work detailed in the 1977 publication by Dibble, Cohen, and Grawe, relied on factor analytic techniques to delineate the underlying structure of both the child personality items and the parental attitude items. For the child section, factors likely emerge correlating with established temperamental dimensions (e.g., approach/withdrawal, intensity of reaction, persistence). For the parental section, factors typically cluster around themes of warmth/acceptance versus control/strictness.

Instrument

Test Type: Parent/Caregiver Rating Scale and Self-Report Questionnaire.

Format: Paper-and-pencil questionnaire utilizing Likert-type frequency scales. Part 1 uses a 7-point scale; Part 2 uses a 7-point scale (0 to 6) across two comparative columns.

Language Available: English (Original).

Population Group: Children and their primary caregivers (parents/guardians).

Age Group: Typically utilized for young children (pre-school through early school age).

Population Details: Designed for use in both clinical and non-clinical populations to assess normative and non-normative child development and temperament.

Test Methodology: The rater (parent) assesses the child’s behavior in Part 1 based on frequency over the preceding two months. In Part 2, the rater evaluates their own current parenting behavior and then rates the behavior of an ideal parent.

Keywords

child behavior assessment, emotional regulation, activity level, social interaction, caregiver-child relationship, psychological inventory.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Refer to original publications in Archives of General Psychiatry)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Childhood Personality Scale (CPS) was initially developed and published by Eleanor Dibble and Donald J. Cohen in 1974. Researchers seeking to use the instrument must typically seek permission from the copyright holders, often through the original publishing journal or subsequent anthologies such as Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook (Fischer & Corcoran, 2007). Fee structures and permission details are dependent on the intended use (academic research versus commercial application).

Reference’s

• Dibble, Eleanor, & Cohen, Donald J. (1974). Companion Instruments for Measuring Children’s Competence and Parental Style. Archives of General Psychiatry, 30(6), 805-815.
• Dibble, Eleanor, Cohen, Donald J., & Grawe, J.M. (1977). Fathers’ and mothers’ perceptions of children’s personality. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34(4), 480-487.
• Dibble, E., and Cohen, D.J. (1974). Childhood Personality Scale (CPS). In Fischer, Joel, & Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY: Oxford University Press. Vol. 1, Page(s): 451-454.
• Gilmore, Linda & Cuskelly, Monica. (2012). Parenting satisfaction and self-efficacy: a longitudinal study of mothers of children with Down Syndrome. Journal of Family Studies, 18(1), 28-35.

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Items of the Childhood Personality Scale (CPS)

Part 1: Child Personality Assessment

The purpose of this questionnaire is to get a picture of each child’s personality as he or she typically has been for the last two months. Some of the sentences may describe this child very well. Other sentences will not be at all like this child. There are seven columns after each sentence. For each sentence, check the column that is most true of this child’s personality and the way he acts.

• Will talk or babble to you about his/her toys, clothes, and what he/she is doing
• Tends to be fussy and complains. Generally is not satisfied
• Plays for a long time in the same way with one toy or thing. Repeats over and over.
• Smiles to a friendly person
• Turns his/her head away or looks down in an uncomfortable way when people pay attention to him/her
• Tries out a toy in many different ways. Is curious about what he/she can get something to do
• Quickly shows his/her anger and frustration if he/she can’t get something done that he/she is working on
• Persists in trying to do something, even if he/she has some small problems along the way
• Likes to be with people rather than by himself/herself
• Loses interest in what he/she has started doing Goes from one thing to another
• Is agreeable to play with something, take a walk, wash up, or eat when someone suggests it
• Can get away from you “quick as a flash” when he/she wants to
• Sits without doing anything unless another person tries hard to get him/her interested
• Babbles or talks with delight. Gets pleasure out of almost everything
• Jumps, runs, and is on the move. Can’t seem to be still for long

Part 2: Parental Style Assessment

There are two columns for each sentence. Within each column is a scale from 0 to 6. First check the box in the first column that describes you today. Second, check the box from the second column that describes the ideal parent.

• I tell him/her how happy he/she makes me.
• I like him/her to do things his/her way
• I encourage him/her to tell me what he/she is thinking and feeling.
• I make decisions with him/her.
• I see to it that he/she obeys what he/she IS told.
• I ignore misbehavior.
• I forget rules that have been made.
• I explain to him/her why he/she is being punished.
• I warn him/her about future punishments to prevent him/her from acting badly.
• I feel close to him/her both when he/she is happy and when he/she is worried.
• I let him/her know all I have done for him/her when I want him/her to obey
• I check on what he’s/she’s doing and whom he/she is seeing all during the day.
• I use physical punishment.
• I give him/her a lot of care and attention.
• I prefer going places and doing things without him/her.
• I avoid looking at him/her when I am disappointed in him/her.
• I enjoy listening to him/her and doing things with him/her.
• I am aware of his/her need for privacy.
• I know how he/she feels without his/her saying.
• I let him/her help me decide about things that affect him/her
• I punish him/her for disobeying
• I allow things to be left undone
• I enforce rules depending upon my mood.
• I set limits for activities to help him/her stay out of trouble
• I keep reminding him/her of past bad behavior.

Scoring Key (Part 1)

1 = never, 2= Almost never, 3= Seldom, 4= Half the time, 5 = Frequently, 6= Almost always, 7= always