The Reliability of the Thai Version of the Toddlers' Temperament Questionnaire

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ)-very short form, Thai version; and to investigate Thai toddlers' temperaments Materials and Methods: The English version of the very short form ECBQ was translated into Thai language. The primary caregivers of 360 healthy, 18-36 months old children, were asked to fill the questionnaire from the period of April, 2018 to June, 2019. The scores were calculated to determine the child's temperament. The reliability of the very short form ECBQ- Thai version was assessed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient for internal consistency and Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for inter-rater reliability, two-week and six-month test-retest reliability. Results: The Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.627-0.692, which indicated questionable internal consistency, but almost reach those of the original ECBQ. The inter-rater ICCs were 0.463-0.670, which were comparable to those in the original English version. The two-week ICCs were 0.602-0.750, which indicated moderate reliability, whereas the six-month ICCs decreased to 0.459-0.602. However, these values almost reached those of the original English version. Most toddlers were reported to have a surgency temperament. Boys significantly had more surgency temperament and had higher mean surgency scores, whereas girls exhibited a more effortful-control temperament. Conclusion: The very short-form ECBQ, Thai version can be implemented in assessing Thai toddlers' temperament. The majority of Thai toddlers in this study demonstrated surgency temperament. Boys tended to be more surgency, while girls tended to be more effortful control.