Life Changes

Abstract: The Life Changes measure, which was originally part of a larger measure called Developmental History, consists of a 15-minute interview that is completed with the parent as part of the summer interview. The Developmental History, developed and used by Dodge and colleagues (1990), is part of a longitudinal study of family origins of children's behavior problems. The measure assesses a number of constructs: perceptions of the parent-child relationship, developmental history, life changes, child care history, discipline strategies, expected success of child in life, school, and service utilization. There are five versions of the Developmental History measure, based on the time point of administration. This measure has been modified over time but the basic items are primarily still the same. There are four main sections to the Life Changes measure: perceptions of the parent-child relationship, life changes (only for the previous year), discipline strategies, and service utilization items. These are then broken down into eleven subscales:

  • Two subscales measure the perceptions of the parent-child relationship: Quality of Parent-Child Relationship - Parent Rating and Quality of Parent-Child Relationship - Observer Rating .
  • The third subscale, called the Stress Scale Sum Score is summed across the scale to represent the cumulative total of life changes experienced by the family.
  • The rest of the subscales come as part of the section on discipline strategies.
Analysts should note that eight of the subscales in the normative sample were fairly normally distributed. Three subscales, however, were positively skewed. The Inappropriate Verbal Correction Mean Score and the Physical Punishment Mean Score were slightly skewed, whereas the Contingent Ignore Mean Score was highly skewed. Nine of the subscales in the control sample were fairly normally distributed and two subscales were positively skewed. The Inappropriate Verbal Correction Mean Score was moderately skewed and the Contingent Ignore Mean Score was highly skewed.

Who Completed this Measure?: Parent

Cohort 1 - Administrative History

  • Year 01 | K | age 6
  • Year 02 | grade 1 | age 7
  • Year 03 | grade 2 | age 8
  • Year 04 | grade 3 | age 9
  • Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
  • Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
  • Year 07 | grade 6 | age 12
  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
  • Year 10 | grade 9 | age 15
  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18

Cohort 2 - Administrative History

  • Year 01 | K | age 6
  • Year 02 | grade 1 | age 7
  • Year 03 | grade 2 | age 8
  • Year 04 | grade 3 | age 9
  • Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
  • Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
  • Year 07 | grade 6 | age 12
  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
  • Year 10 | grade 9 | age 15
  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18

Cohort 3 - Administrative History

  • Year 01 | K | age 6
  • Year 02 | grade 1 | age 7
  • Year 03 | grade 2 | age 8
  • Year 04 | grade 3 | age 9
  • Year 05 | grade 4 | age 10
  • Year 06 | grade 5 | age 11
  • Year 07 | grade 6 | age 12
  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14
  • Year 10 | grade 9 | age 15
  • Year 11 | grade 10 | age 16
  • Year 12 | grade 11 | age 17
  • Year 13 | grade 12 | age 18

Technical Reports:

Raw Dataset Name: PyC

Scored Dataset Name: LCHySPc

Keywords:
Child Care, Demographic Characteristics, Discipline, Divorce, Employment, Migration, Parent Child Relationship, Parental satisfaction, Pregnancy, Psychiatric Services, Psychological Services, Punishment, Siblings, Treatment Facilities

Is this Measure Available for Public Use?: Yes

Obtain Measure:
Download the measure here

SAS Code for Scale Creation:
Download the code here

Measure Items and Scales:

COHORT target child's cohort number
SITE SITE
TCID target child's identification number
DATE character - date of interview
INTID 2 digit code for interviewer
RESPSEX respondent's sex
RESPREL respondent's relation to TC
P5C1 changes: moved/major remodeling
P5C2 changes: medical problems w/TC
P5C3 changes: medical problems w/family
P5C4 changes: death of important person
P5C5 changes: divorce of TCs parents
P5C6 changes: separation of TCs parents
P5C7 changes: remarriage/reconciliation
P5C8 changes: parent/child separation
P5C9 changes: financial problems
P5C10 changes: legal problems
P5C11 changes: drug/alcohol use
P5C12 changes: stress/conflicts
P5C13 changes: pregnancies-miscarriages
P5C14 changes: job-related stress
P5C15 changes: loss of job
P5C16 changes: other
P5C17 TC: reaction to changes
P5C18 p-rating #1: satisfaction w/parent role
P5C19 p-rating #2: child difficulty
P5C20 p-rating #3: parent-child relation
P5C21 p-rating #4: satisfaction child behav
P5C22 i-rating #1: parent description of TC
P5C23 i-rating #2: parent insight about TC
P5C24 i-rating #3: parent affect
P5C25 i-rating #4: parent-child relationship
P5C74 TC receive Tx for emot. Diff
P5C75 Type of Tx facility-TC
P5C76 TC receive Rx for Beh./Att
P5C77 Respondent receive Tx
P5C78 Type of Tx facility-Respondent
P5C79 Others in family receive Tx
P5C80 which other family-Tx
SITECODE numeric code for site
P5C19R Perception of TC difficulty Recoded
LCH5QPR Quality Parent-Child Relat_Parent
LCH5QOB Quality Parent-Child Relat_Observer
LCH5STR Stress Scale sum score