The influence of sociodemographic factors and response style on caregiver report of infant developmental status

Amy K Connery; Radhika S Raghunathan; Alison M Colbert; Laszlo Erdodi; Seth Warschausky; Alissa Huth-Bocks; H Gerry Taylor; Trivellore Raghunathan; Patricia Berglund; Angela D Staples; Angela Lukomski; Jazmine Kirkland; Jennifer Cano; Renee Lajiness-O'Neill; PediaTrac Project Consortium**

doi:10.3389/fped.2022.1080163

The influence of sociodemographic factors and response style on caregiver report of infant developmental status

Front Pediatr. 2023 Jan 11:10:1080163. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.1080163. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Children's Hospital Colorado, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States.
² Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States.
³ Psychology, University of Windsor, Ontario, ON, Canada.
⁴ Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
⁵ Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Cleveland, OH, United States.
⁶ Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
⁷ Institute of Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
⁸ Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, United States.
⁹ Nursing, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, United States.

Abstract

Caregiver report is the most feasible way to assess early childhood development but is susceptible to the influences of response style and sociodemographic factors. In a sample of 571 caregiver-infant dyads (47.8% female; 48% White), we compared caregiver reports on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Third Edition (ASQ-3) with reports on a novel, web-based assessment, PediaTrac™. Ratings on PediaTrac correlated with ratings on the ASQ-3 at all time points (2, 4, 6, and 9 months). Caregiver age, response style, and sociodemographic factors accounted for significant variance on both measures. Developmental reporting of early childhood skills is influenced by caregiver response style and sociodemographic factors. These influences must be considered in order to ensure the accurate identification of infant developmental status.

Keywords: caregiver report; early childhood development; infant development; response style; sociodemographic factors.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number (R01HD095957). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. SW effort also was supported in part by the Mildred E. Swanson Foundation.