A generalizability study was conducted to examine the consistency and stability of scores on a measure of environmental stimulation over the first two years of life. Total scores on the HOME inventory were quite consistent over time, but subscales were less so. Examination of subscales by canonical correlation and principal components factor analysis indicated that the organization of the environment changes over the first two years of life, and it is the amount of stimulation, rather than the particular type of stimulation, which is relatively stable.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
. CaldwellB. M.HeiderJ.KaplanB.The inventory of home stimulation. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, September 1966.
2.
BarnardK. E.EyresS. J. (eds.) Child health assessment. Part 2: Results of the first twelve months of life. Seattle, Washington: Nursing Child Assessment Project, University of Washington, 1977. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 157 949).
3.
BerkR. A.Generalizability of behavioral observations: A clarification of interobserver agreement and interobserver reliability. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1979, 83, 460–472.
4.
BradleyR. H.CaldwellB. M.Early home environment and changes in mental test performance in children from 6 to 36 months. Developmental Psychology, 1976, 12, 93–97. (a)
5.
BradleyR. H.CaldwellB. M.The relation of infants' home environments to mental test performance at 54 months: A follow-up study. Child Development, 1976, 47, 1172–1174. (b)
6.
CooleyW. W.LohnesP. R.Multivariate data analysis. New York: Wiley, 1971.
7.
CronbachL. J.GleserG. C.NandaH.RajaratnamN.The dependability of behavioral measurements: Theory of generalizability for scores and profiles. New York: Wiley, 1972.
8.
ElardoR.BradleyR.CaldwellB. M.The relation of infants' home environments to mental test performance from 6 to 36 months: A longitudinal analysis. Child Development, 1975, 46, 71–76.
9.
HollenbeckA. R.Early infant home environments. Validation of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment inventory. Developmental Psychology, 1978, 14, 416–418.
10.
JohnsonS. M.BolstadO. D.Methodological issues in naturalistic observations: Some problems and solutions for field research. In HamerlynckL. A.HandyL. C.MashE. J. (eds.), Behavior change: Methodology, concepts and practice. Champaign, Ill: Research Press, 1973.
11.
LaessigR. E.DuckettE. J.Canonical correlation analysis: Potential for environmental health planning. American Journal of Public Health, 1979, 69, 353–359.
12.
MitchellS. K.The interobserver agreement, reliability and generalizability of data collected in observational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 1979, 86, 376–390.
13.
RameyC. R.MillsP.CampbellF. A.O'BrienC.Infants' home environments: A comparison of high risk families and families from the general population. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1975, 80, 40–42.
14.
StewartD.LoveW.A general canonical correlation index. Psychological Bulletin, 1968, 70, 160–163.
15.
WachsT. D.Proximal experience and early cognitive-intellectual development: The physical environment. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1979, 25, 3–41.
16.
WachsT. D.FrancisJ.McQuistonS.Psychological dimensions of the infant's physical environment. Infant Behavior & Development, 1979, 2, 155–161.