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.
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 |