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Indicator of Parent-Child Interaction (IPCI)
Technical Soundness

The Indicator of Parent-Child Interaction (IPCI) was developed in a program of research designed to test its technical soundness as a measure of caregiver interactions that support positive behavior in very young children (See Baggett et al., 2006). Some of the important features of soundness, expected of any competent measure, are the attributes of reliability and validity.
A measure is reliable when two observers simultaneously rate parent-child interaction items and return the same, or nearly the same score. A measure is also reliable when parent and child domain scores on the IPCI on one occasion are comparable to that obtained on another occasion separated by only a very brief period of time, e.g., several days.
A measure is valid when it is shown to measure what it is intended to measure. For example, when a measure is compared with another measure with established validity, questions about Criterion-Related Validity can be addressed. An indicator of Criterion-Related Validity would be finding a significant difference in parent-child interaction behaviors between dyads that are known to be at-risk as compared to those who are not.

Sample Description

Original Sample: Children and their Parental Caregivers N = 65, Total Observations N = 350

Sixty-five children and their parental caregivers who varied in race, ethnicity, SES, and disability status (with and without disabilities) were purposively sampled from an inner urban Early Head Start program and a rural, middle class child care center that served children from birth through 42 months of age. Children and parents were enrolled in one of three cohorts, depending upon child age. Child age for each cohort is as follows:

• Cohort 1: 3-11 months
• Cohort 2: 12-23 months
• Cohort 3: 24-42 months

Any child in the target age range at each center was eligible and all children whose parents provided written permission were included.
A repeated-measures cohort design was used to assess in-home parent-child interaction once per month for six months using the IPCI, yielding a total of 350 observations.
All parents and children participated in pre-assessment and post-assessment that included demographic information as well as measures that assessed parenting beliefs and attitudes, maternal depression, quality of the home environment, and child social-emotional functioning. In addition, parent-child interaction was observed at pre- and post-assessment.

Sample Demographic Characteristics

Technical Measurement Results
Reliability - Interobserver Agreement (based on 49 out of 350 total observations)
Interobserver agreement assesses the extent to which two observers produce the same score. Agreement assessments tap the extent that two observers record the key skills elements displayed by the same parent and child being observed by both observers at the same time. High percentage agreement indicates that observers are well trained because they understand and rate item definitions in the same way in the same way.

Research and practice confirms that relatively high levels of Interobserver agreement are attainable with the IPCI. Subtle social behavior of parents and very young children can be more challenging to code as compared to overt verbal behaviors that early intervention personnel may be more familiar with. Although subtle behaviors are observed with the IPCI, scoring is objective and requires thorough familiarity with the scoring definitions and use of the scoring manual during scoring. Continuous use of the scoring manual, by both experienced and novice IPCI observers, is necessary for achieving high reliability scores.  
Reliability – Test-Retest  
This form of reliability tests the comparability of IPCI parent and child domain scores when obtained at two points in time.
Test-retest between observations conducted within 30 days.

Criterion-Related Validity
Is the IPCI sensitive to high risk dyads?

IPCI Caregiver Facilitators and Child Engagement item and domain scores were significantly higher for low-risk as compared to high-risk dyads. IPCI Caregiver Interrupters and Child Distress were significantly lower for low-risk as compared to high risk dyads.

Note: T-tests were conducted using data aggregated by dyad (Low-Risk N=12, High-Risk N=53); *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001.)

Are IPCI Parental Caregiver domains related to parenting risk?
IPCI Domain Correlations with the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) show significant correlations in expected directions.

Are IPCI Parental Caregiver domains related to quality of the home environment?
IPCI Domain correlations with the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) show significant correlations in expected directions.

Are IPCI Parental Caregiver and Child items related to risk for maternal depression?
IPCI Parental Caregiver and Child item correlations with the Centers for Epidemiological Studies of Depression (CESD) show significant relationships in expected directions.

Are IPCI Parental Caregiver and Child domains related to child social-emotional problems?
IPCI Parental Caregiver and Child Domains are significantly correlated with child behavior problems in the expected directions.