Young Child Behaviour: The Views of Mothers and Fathers

Abstract

The Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory (ECBI) was completed separately by both the mothers and the fathers of 216 children aged between 3 years and 7 years 11 months, who were participating in a Belfast Community Study. The scores on both the Intensity Scale and the Problem Scale of the ECBI were well within the normal range. There was a significantly higher level of agreement between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of their child on the Intensity Scale (frequency of the behaviour) than on the Problem Identification Scale. There were significant gender and age effects on the Intensity Scale but not on the Problem Scale. The results suggest that, whereas it is sometimes reasonable to use mothers’ and fathers’ combined informants, caution should be exercised in labelling child behaviour as problematic.