Introduction
The tables below summarise the measures used in the 4 Year booklets. Each measure is identified by the booklet heading and pages, and by informal or formal names and descriptions. The number of items in each measure is shown, but note that some of these items have two or more parts, giving two or more item variables.
The final column of each table shows dataset scales that are related to each measure; each variable name here is a link that will take you to the relevant item in the 4 Year derived variables page.
Measures in the Child Booklet
Refer to the annotated child booklet (pdf) for the section headings and page numbers referred to in this table, and for item variable names and coding.
| Booklet section, pages | No. of items | Description of measure | References | Related scales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find the Pair, pages 3-13 |
16 | Parent-Administered PARCA:
Oddity task (or Odd-One-Out, or Find the Pair). Items 1-13 are based on the Odd-Man-Out part of the Bayley Scales; items 14-16 are from Franky Happe and Bonny Oliver at TEDS. |
Bayley, N. (1993): Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd Edition; San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation. | doddt1/2 |
| Drawing: copying, pages 15-22 |
6 | Parent-Administered PARCA:
Design drawing task (including handedness questions for the last 3 items) Based on McCarthy scales. |
McCarthy, D. (1972): McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities; New York: The Psychological Corporation. | Total score:
ddrawt1/2
Handedness: dhand1/2, dhands1/2, dleft1/2, dright1/2, dtoleft1/2, dtorigh1/2 |
| Drawing: alone, pages 23-24 |
1 | Parent-Administered PARCA: Draw-a-man task | dmant1/2 | |
| Puzzles, pages 27-34 |
12 | Parent-Administered PARCA:
Puzzle task. Derived from ideas for the Colorado Adoption Project, and from Raven's Matrices. |
(1) Raven, J.C., Court, J.H., Raven, J. (1996): Manual for Raven's
Progressive Matrices and Vocabulary Scales: Section 3 - Standard
Progressive Matrices; Oxford Psychologists Press. (2) Frankenburg, W.K., Dodds, J.B., Fandal, A.W. (1973): Denver Developmental Screening Test: manual/workbook for nursing and paramedical personnel; University of Colorado Medical Center. |
dpuzt1/2 Totals for Parent-Administered Parca: dadparc1/2, dadparn1/2 |
| Looking at Pictures, pages 37-47 |
8 | Parent-administered Receptive Picture Vocabulary test | Based on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised (PPVT-R), Dunn and Dunn, 1981. | dpictot1/2 |
| Your Child Playing Our Games, pages 14, 25, 35, 48 |
4 on each page | BRAT (Behavioural Responses After Task) | Derived from items by Michael Lewis; contact Kirby Deater-Deckard. | - |
| Your Child At Play, page 49 |
12 | Parent-Reported PARCA (conceptual knowledge). Most items are from Robert Plomin, Philip Dale, Thalia Eley and Bonny Oliver at TEDS. Some items adapted from the references given. |
(1) Bricker, D., Squires, J., Mounts, L. (1995): Ages and Stages
Questionnaires: a parent-completed, child-monitoring system; Baltimore,
MD: Brooks. (2) Elliott, C.D. (1990): Differential Ability Scales; San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation. (3) Ireton, H., Thwing, E. (1974): The Minnesota Child Development Inventory; Minneapolis MN: Behaviour Science Systems. (4) Reuter, J., Bickett, L. (1985): The Kent Infant Development Scale Manual, 2nd Edition; Kent, OH: Kent Developmental Metrics. (5) Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence - revised UK edition; New York: Psychological Corporation. |
dreparc1/2 Total Parca composite (including parent-administered and parent-reported): dparca1/2 |
| What Your Child Can Say, top of page 50 |
3 | Item 1: syntax Items 2,3: communication style |
Items by Philip Dale (1997) | Grammar score:
dgramma1/2 Low-language flags: dllang1/2, dllpic1/2, dllslow1/2, dlltalk1/2, dllvoc1/2 |
| What Your Child Can Say, bottom of page 50 |
48 | Expressive Vocabulary. Anglicised and adapted from the MCDI. |
(1) Fenson, L., Pethick, S., Cox, J.L. (1994): The
MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: short form versions;
unpublished manuscript: San Diego State University. (2) Fenson, L. et al (1994): Variability in early communicative development; Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 1-173. |
dvocab1/2 dtvoc1/2 Standardised cognitive composites (including Parca and Language scores): drawg1/2, dscnv1/2, dscv1/2 |
| Language, page 51 |
14 | Abstract language. Anglicised and adapted from the MCDI. |
- | |
| Numbers, page 51 |
5 | Numbers | Items by Steve Petrill. | - |
| Books, page 52 |
10 | Literacy (first 8 items), and Phonology (last 2 items) |
Items by Steve Petrill. | - |
| Communication, pages 52-53 |
11 | Miscellaneous items about child's communication. Item 1 (multi-part): concerns about speech and language. Items 2-3: pointing, eye gaze. Items 4-5: effects of small changes on child. Items 6-11: aspects of verbal communication. CHAT (Checklist for Autism in Toddlers) was apparently the source for some of items 2-11 but the documentation is unclear on this. |
Item 1 was added by Dorothy Bishop and Philip Dale. Items 2-3 and 8-11 were added by Philip Dale; early documents mention that at least some of these items were from the CHAT. Items 4-7 were added by Franke Happe. |
- |
| Your Active Child, pages 54-55 |
24 | Gender Roles | Golombek, S., Rust, J. (1993): The Measurement of Gender Role
Behaviour in Pre-School Children: a research note; Journal Child
Psychol. Psychiat., 34, 805-811. (contact Melissa Hines) |
dfemale1/2 dmale1/2 dgender1/2 |
| Your Child's Diet, page 56 |
15 | Diet, Heights, weights and waist measurements (parents as well as twin) |
Items by Jane Wardle, with new waist measurement items by Dirk Gewert. | Twin BMI:
dcbmi1/2, Parent BMI: dfbmi, dmbmi, Parent BMI categories: dfbmcat, dmbmcat |
| Your Child At Home, pages 57-58 |
58 | Behaviour trait measures
|
(1) Goodman, R. (1997): The Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire: a research note; Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 38, 581-586. (2) Behar, L. B. (1977): The Preschool Behavior Questionnaire; Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 5, 265–275. (3) Eley, T.C., Bolton, D., O’Connor, T.G., Perrin, S., Smith, P. and Plomin, R. (2003). A twin study of anxiety related behaviours in pre-school children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44: 945-960. A detailed account of the sources of items is given in the behaviour measures at ages 2, 3 and 4 (pdf). |
SDQ subscales: dsdanxt1/2, dsdbeht1/2, dsdcont1/2, dsdhypt1/2, dsdpert1/2, dsdprot1/2 ARBQ scales: danxocbt1/2, danxshyt1/2, danxfeart1/2, danxnafft1/2, danxncogt1/2, danxt1/2 Overall Behar scales: dcont1/2, demot1/2, dhypt1/2, dprot1/2 |
Measures in the Parent Booklet
Refer to the annotated parent booklet (pdf) for the section headings and page numbers referred to in this table, and for item variable names and value coding.
| Booklet section, pages | No. of items | Description of measure | References | Related scales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (inside front cover) | 6 | Contact details for a relative or friend | Included for admin reasons, to help with tracing in case of address problem. | - |
| Consent form (first page, not numbered) |
14 | Confirmation of parent's name and address, and twin names and birth
dates and signed consent |
Included for admin reasons, to confirm contact details and as proof of consent. | - |
| Is There Anything New To Tell Us, pages 1-2 |
7 | Marital status, New siblings, Mother's pregnancy, Job changes, Serious illness/accident |
Requested by all collaborators, for demographic and background information | Marital status: dmstatus Life events composite: dlifeev |
| Your Twins Day To Day, pages 3-6 |
19 | (1) Dressing the twins, play group, putting twins to bed, twins
apart from each other, twins identical or non-identical (items 1-3, 5,
17-19) added by the Multiple Births Foundation (2) Twin language (item 4) added by Philip Dale and Dorothy Bishop (3) Sleep, nappies and potty-training (items 6-16) added for the Butler bladder control sub-study |
- | - |
| Your Twins: Identical or Non-Identical, pages 7-9 |
18 | Zygosity questionnaire, slightly modified from Goldsmith | Goldsmith, H.H. (1991): A zygosity questionnaire for young twins: a research note; Behaviour Genetics, 21, 257-269. | Zygosity algorithm: dtempzyg dalg2zy, dalgzyg |
| Your Twins' Health, pages 10-12 |
23 | (1) Hearing-related problems (items 1-9) added by Mark Haggard for
the Hearing sub-study (2) Skin problems, asthma, allergies (items 10-16) added by Ian Craig (3) Specific health problems, twins seen by GP (items 17, 19) added by Jim Stevenson (4) Learning disabilities, visits to hospital, surgery (items 18, 21-23) requested by various collaborators (5) Meningitis (item 20) added by the Robert Booy sub-study |
- | - |
| Family history, bottom of page 12 |
2 | Familial Risk: family history of medical conditions, diabetes in mother | Items added by Dirk Gewert | - |
| Twins' Early Experiences, pages 13-15 |
17 | Adapted from HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the
Environment): (1) How you talk to your twins: items 1-8 (2) Your twins' play: items 9-17 (contact Alex Cutting or Kirby Deater-Deckard) |
Caldwell, B.M., Bradley, R.H. (1984): Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment, revised edition; University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas | Standardised twin-specific items: dtbook1/2, dteat1/2, dtloca1/2, dtpron1/2, dtrhym1/2, dtsent1/2, dttalk1/2, dtword1/2, dgboard1/2, dgbooks1/2, dgmessy1/2, dgmusi1/2, dgphys1/2, dgpuzz1/2, dgtapes1/2, dgzoo1/2, dgmessy1/2, dgmusi1/2, dgphys1/2, dgpuzz1/2, dgtapes1/2, dgzoo1/2 Talking to twins composites: dtfac11/2, dtfac21/2 Twins' play/games composites: dgfac11/2, dgfac21/2, dggfac1, dggfac2 |
| Discipline, page 16 |
7 | Parental Discipline: items 18-23 adapted from Dodge; item 24 added by Kirby Deater-Deckard |
Deater-Deckard, K., Dodge, K., Bates, J.E., Pettit, G.S. (1998): Multiple risk factors in the development of externalizing behaviour problems: group and individual differences; Development and Psychopathology, 10, 469-493 | Standardised twin-specific items:
ddiasko1/2, ddiexpl1/2, ddifirm1/2, ddijoke1/2, ddishou1/2, ddismak1/2 Parental discipline composites: ddisneg1/2, ddispos1/2, ddisavo1/2, ddis1/2 |
| Being a Parent of Twins, page 17 |
7 | Parental Feelings Questionnaire, added by Kirby Deater-Deckard |
- | Standardised twin-specific items:
dbpamus1/2,
dbpangr1/2, dbpaway1/2, dbpclos1/2, dbpfrus1/2, dbphapp1/2, dbpimpa1/2 Parental feelings composites: dparneg1/2, dparpos1/2, dpar1/2 |
| How You Feel, pages 18-19 |
10 | Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) | Cox, J.L., Holden, J.M., Sagovsky, R. (1987): Detection of postnatal depression: development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 782-786. | dmdtot |
| Your Home, page 19 |
6 | Confusion, Hubbub and Order Scale (CHAOS) | Matheny, A.P., Wachs, T.D., Ludwig, J.L., Phillips, K. (1995): Bringing order out of chaos: psychometric characteristics of the confusion hubbub and order scale; Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 16, 429-444. | Chaos composites:
dchatot, dyhfac1z, dyhfac2z
Environment Risk composites (derived from chaos, maternal depression, life events and other scales): derisk1/2, deriskf |