Psychometric Evaluation of the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) in a Predominately Hispanic, Low-Income Sample

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) with 12- to 15-month-old infants from predominately Hispanic, low-income families. Mothers of 144 infants were screened at a pediatric clinic as part of a larger study examining a brief home-based intervention for infants at-risk for behavior problems. Reliability was good for the BITSEA problem scale in all analyses and acceptable for the BITSEA competence scale in most analyses. Discriminative validity was supported by scores on the BITSEA competence scale significantly predicting delayed status on all ASQ-3 subscales. BITSEA problem scale scores significantly predicted scores on the total problems scale of the Child Behavior Checklist, supporting predictive validity. Analyses revealed a main effect of group on BITSEA problem scale scores, providing preliminary support for sensitivity to change for the BITSEA problem scale. Results support the BITSEA as an effective screening tool for use with young infants, Hispanic and Spanish-speaking populations, and low-income families.