Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ)

Abstract

The Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (ECBQ) is a specialized parent-report measure developed to assess temperament in children aged 1 to 3 years old. Designed to bridge a critical measurement gap, the ECBQ provides a more comprehensive and fine-grained assessment of temperament compared to earlier instruments available for toddlers. The scale moves beyond defining temperament solely by emotionality, incorporating reactive processes involving motor, sensory, and affective systems, alongside crucial Effortful Control (self-regulatory processes) components (Putnam, Gartstein, & Rothbart, 2006). Consisting of 201 items across 18 scales, the ECBQ is rooted in the broader developmental framework established by the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R).

Keywords

Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (ECBQ), temperament, toddler assessment, parent-report, Effortful Control, Negative Affectivity, Surgency/Extraversion, child development, psychometrics, Rothbart.

Authors

Susan P. Putnam, Mark A. Gartstein, Mary K. Rothbart

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ECBQ is to provide a detailed and comprehensive assessment of temperament in children during the critical developmental period of 12 to 36 months (toddlerhood). Historically, standardized, fine-grained instruments existed for infants (e.g., IBQ-R) and older children (e.g., CBQ), but a detailed measure suitable for the unique behavioral and cognitive changes observed in toddlers was absent. The ECBQ was explicitly created to fill this void, enabling researchers to study the continuity and change of temperamental characteristics across early development (Putnam et al., 2006).

The authors emphasize that the ECBQ is focused on understanding normal development and is therefore not intended for the clinical diagnosis of psychological or psychiatric disorders. While they acknowledge its potential utility in therapeutic or applied settings, its effectiveness outside of research contexts has not been empirically validated, and thus, claims regarding applied effectiveness are not made.

Construct

The psychological construct measured by the ECBQ is temperament, defined broadly as individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation (Rothbart et al., 2001). Unlike previous toddler temperament scales that focused narrowly on emotionality, the ECBQ conceptualization of temperament is multidimensional. It encompasses reactive processes involving emotion, motor activity, and sensory systems. Crucially, it places significant emphasis on self-regulatory processes—specifically, those mechanisms (such as attention and inhibitory control) that modulate reactivity.

The ECBQ consists of 201 items organized into 18 distinct scales. These scales represent either “downward extensions” of dimensions found in the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) or “upward extensions” from the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R). Additionally, three scales (Social Fear, Activity Level, and Anger) were incorporated from the existing Toddler Behaviour Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ; Goldsmith, 1996) to ensure maximal coverage of the toddler temperament domain.

Validity

The initial development and testing of the ECBQ provided strong evidence for its internal validity across two independent samples from the United States (Putnam et al., 2006). The consistency of the three-factor structure confirmed through principal axis factor analysis across both samples suggests high internal structural validity.

Furthermore, longitudinal stability was demonstrated across the 18 to 36-month period. With the exception of one specific correlation (Positive Anticipation from 18 to 36 months), all correlations for primary caregivers were statistically significant at p < .01. The consistency of findings observed between primary and secondary caregivers, alongside the stability across cross-sectional and longitudinal measurements, reinforces the scale’s internal consistency and stability over time. However, the original authors noted that additional research is required to fully establish the concurrent, predictive, and external validity of the instrument.

Reliability

The psychometric properties of the ECBQ demonstrated generally high levels of reliability. Internal consistency was assessed using alpha coefficients, calculated across three age groups in Sample 1 and four time points in Sample 2 (the final measure). In the final measure (Sample 2), 37 of the 72 calculated alpha coefficients exceeded .80, indicating strong internal reliability for the majority of the scales. Only five alphas were below .70, and only one (Impulsivity at 18 months) fell below .60.

Inter-rater reliability was assessed by comparing reports from primary and secondary caretakers. The majority of raters showed consistent agreement. The highest agreement was observed for scales measuring discrete aspects of Negative Affectivity. Conversely, the lowest agreement was reported for scales such as Low-intensity Pleasure, Sociability, Motor Activation, Attention Shifting, and Positive Anticipation (Putnam et al., 2006).

Factor Analysis

A principal axis factor analysis was conducted on the ECBQ data, revealing a highly consistent factor structure across both the preliminary and final samples used in the measure’s development. The analysis consistently extracted a robust three-factor solution, which aligns with modern hierarchical models of temperament:

• Factor 1: Negative Affectivity. This factor included primary loadings for Discomfort, Fear, Sadness, Frustration, Perceptual Sensitivity, Shyness, Motor Activation, and Soothability (with a negative loading).
• Factor 2: Surgency/Extraversion. This factor was characterized by primary loadings for Impulsivity, Activity Level, High-intensity Pleasure, Sociability, and Positive Anticipation.
• Factor 3: Effortful Control. This factor was defined primarily by loadings of Inhibitory Control, Attention Shifting, Low-intensity Pleasure, Cuddliness, and Attention Focusing.

The stability and generalizability of this three-factor structure have been further supported by cross-cultural validation studies, including the development of Russian (Slobodskaya & Kozlova, 2016) and Japanese (Sukigara, Nakagawa, & Mizuno, 2015) versions of the ECBQ.

Instrument

Test Type: Parent-report Questionnaire

Format: 201 items, 18 scales. Responses are given on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from never to always, reporting on the frequency of specific behaviors in frequently occurring contexts.

Language Available: English (Original), Russian, Japanese, and others (as per the Rothbart lab documentation).

Population Group: Non-clinical community samples (focus on normal development).

Age Group: Children aged 1 to 3 years old (12 to 36 months).

Population Details: Developed using samples from the United States.

Test Methodology: Parents report on the frequency of specific behaviors, such as “sit quietly and watch” or “become sadly tearful,” in various contexts (e.g., “When told no”).

Keywords

Temperament assessment, Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire, ECBQ, self-regulation, reactivity, Inhibitory Control, Sadness, Fear, Activity Level, Positive Anticipation, psychometric properties, longitudinal stability.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (ECBQ) is available for download, though permission is required from the Rothbart Temperament Questionnaires research group. The application process involves a simple and quick request form. The ECBQ can be downloaded from: https://research.bowdoin.edu/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires/request-forms/downloads/. The measure was developed and published in its current form in 2006 (Putnam, Gartstein, & Rothbart, 2006).

Reference’s

• Gartstein, M., A., & Rothbart, M. K. (2003). Studying infant temperament via the Revised Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 166, 1–23. The original PDF can be downloaded here: https://research.bowdoin.edu/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires/files/2016/09/2003-ibq-studying-infant-behavior.pdf

• Goldsmith, H. H.(1996). Studying temperament via construction of the Toddler Behavior Questionnaire. Child Development, 67, 218–235. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01730.x

• Putnam, S. P., Gartstein, M. A., & Rothbart, M. K. (2006). Measurement of fine-grained aspects of toddler temperament: The early childhood behavior questionnaire. Infant Behav Dev, 29, 386-401. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2006.01.004

• Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., Hershey, K. L., Fisher, P. (2001). Investigations of temperament at three to seven years: The Children’s Behavior Questionnaire. Child Development, 72, 1394–1408. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00355

• Slobodskaya, H., & Kozlova,E. A. (2016). Early temperament as a predictor of later personality. Personality and Individual differences, 99, 127-132. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.04.094

• Sukigara, M., Nakagawa, A., & Mizuno, R. (2015). Development of a japanese version of the early childhood behaviour questionnaire (ecbq) using cross-sectional and longitudinal data. SAGE Open, 5, 1-11. doi: 10.1177/2158244015590443

Items of the Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (ECBQ)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

e.g., how often did your child “sit quietly and watch,” “become sadly tearful”