Reliability and validity of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory with African-American and Latino Parents of Young Children

This study evaluated the reliability, equivalence, and convergent validity of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) in 682, 2-to 4-year-old children. For analysis, parent informants' data were blocked by race/ ethnicity (African-American, Latino, non-Latino White), family income (low versus middle/upper), child's gender, and ECBI language version (English and Spanish). ECBI scales had high internal consistency reliabilities and good convergence with the Child Behavior Checklist/11/2-5. Some racial/ ethnic and income effects were found. There were no mean differences by ECBI language version or by child gender. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a single-factor invariant model of the ECBI Intensity Scale provided a good fit with the data across racial/ethnic and income groups. Implications for using the ECBI to measure behavior problems in young children of color are discussed.