Child Item by Item Justification

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey
Q Number
A: TRAITS

Question

Source

A1-A20

I’d like to start by reading you a few
statements which people have used to
describe themselves. For each
statement, I’d like you to tell me how
you generally feel. After each
statement, please tell me if you feel that
way hardly ever, sometimes or often.

Trait Anxiety Scale for Children
(T-Anxiety Scale)™

I worry about making mistakes

I am shy
…(Illustrative items shown as scale is
copyrighted)

The FEAR scale has been used
with homeless children.

B: FEARS
B1-B33.

Uses
Justification
Measures of anxiety (Trait Anxiety Scale) and Fears are
important mental health outcomes for children. Both are
likely to be influenced by unstable and sometimes dangerous
living situations experienced by some homeless families,
situations that are likely to be reduced by study
interventions.
Child mental health outcome
The Trait Anxiety Scale
distinguishes between a general
proneness to anxious behavior
rooted in the personality and
anxiety as a fleeting emotional
state
The T-Anxiety scale measures
relatively stable individual
differences in anxiety proneness,
that is, differences between
children in the tendency to
experience anxiety states
(Speilberger et al., 1973).

I am going to read you a list of fears that
children sometimes have. For each
statement please tell me if you have this
fear not at all, some, or a lot.

FEAR Scale, Ramirez, et., al.

Spiders
….
I worry about myself
C: Life
Events

Abt Associates Inc.

Life events, both positive and negative in nature, have been
strong predictors of mental health in prior studies. These
questions allow us to measure the child well-being 36months after enrollment in the study to determine if there are
differences based on the intervention the family was
assigned to. Exposure to life events is likely to be influenced
by residential stability and neighborhood quality, which
could be influenced by study interventions.

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey ▌pg. E-1

Q Number
C1-C62 (29
selected
items only)

Question
I’m going to read some statements that
describe events that can happen in the
life of any child or in any family. Some
of them may apply to your family,
meaning you, your parents or your
brothers and sisters. Many of them may
not apply to your family.

Source
Life Events Questionnaire,
(Masten, Neeman, and Andenas,
1994 )—selected modules

Uses

Justification

As I read each statement please
decide if it is something that happened
to you or your family during the past
year that is since [STATE MONTH] a
year ago. If the event happened to you
or your family in the past year, please
answer yes. If the event did not happen
to you or your family, please answer no.
Please answer these questions as
honestly as you can.

D: CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey (tobacco,
alcohol, and drug use items)

D1.
D2.
D3.

Have you ever tried cigarette smoking,
even one or two puffs?
During the past 30 days, on how many
days did you smoke cigarettes?
During the past 30 days, on the days
you smoked, how many cigarettes did
you smoke per day?

Abt Associates Inc.

Youth engagement in risky behavior could be influenced by
housing and family instability. These questions provide a
measure of youth engagement in risky behaviors, with
questions geared toward middle and high school aged
children. The substance abuse questions, in tandem with
Fears and TRAITS combine are strong measures of child
mental health outcomes.
CDC 2011 Youth Risk Behavior
Survey
D1-D5 are about use of
tobacco

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey ▌pg. E-2

Q Number
D4.

D5.

D6.
D7.

D8.

D9
D10.
D11

D12

D13.

D14.

D15.

D16.
D17

Question
On how many of the past 30 days did
you use chewing tobacco, snuff, or dip
such as Redman, Levi Garrett,
Beechnut, Skoal, Skoal Bandits or
Copenhagen?
During the past 30 days on how many
days did you smoke cigars, cigarillos, or
little cigars?
Have you ever had a drink of alcohol,
other than a few sips?
During the past 30 days on how many
days did you have at least one drink of
alcohol?
During the past 30 days, on how many
days did you have 5 or more drinks of
alcohol in a row, that is within a couple
of hours?
BLANK
Have you ever used marijuana?
During the past 30 days, how many
times did you use marijuana?

Source

Uses

Justification

D6-D8 capture data on alcohol
use

Items D10 through D23 ask
about the child’s use of drugs,
including illegal and prescription
drugs.

Have you ever used any form of
cocaine including powder, crack or
freebase?
During your life, how many times have
you used any form of cocaine, including
powder, crack or freebase?
During the past 30 days, how many
times did you use any form cocaine,
including powder, crack or freebase?
Have you ever sniffed glue, or breathed
the contents of spray cans, or inhaled
any paints or sprays to get high?
Have you ever used steroid pills or
shots without a doctor’s prescription?
During your life, how many times have
you sniffed glue, breathed the contents
of spray cans, or inhaled any paints or
sprays to get high?

Abt Associates Inc.

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey ▌pg. E-3

Q Number
D18

D19

D20
D21

D22

D23

Question
During your life how many times have
you used heroin (also called smack,
junk, or China White)?
During your life, how many times have
you used methamphetamines (also
called speed, crystal, crank, or ice)?
During your life, how many times have
you used ecstasy (also called MDMA)>
During your life how many times have
you taken steroid pills or shots without a
doctor’s prescription?
During your life, how many times have
you taken a prescription drug (such as
Oxycontin, Pecocet, Vicodin, codeine,
Adderall, Ritalin, or Xanax) without a
doctor’s prescription?
During your life, how many times have
you used a needle to inject any illegal
drug into your body?

Source

Module 5
E. School Grades/Attendance/Problems/Effort

E1.

Think about your last grade report.
Would you describe the report as….

E2a.

How many days in the last month did
you miss school?
In the last year, have you…
a) Been expelled from school?
b) Been suspended from school?
c) Been sent to the principal’s office
because of problems with another
student, a teacher or your school work?
d) Had a note sent home about any
problems in school?

E3

Abt Associates Inc.

Shinn, M., Samuels, J., Fischer,
S. N., Thompkins, A., & Fowler,
P. Family Critical Time
Intervention: Longitudinal
randomized controlled-trial
testing effects on homeless
children. Under review.

Uses

Justification

These questions capture information on school performance,
attendance and behaviors, which are key developmental
domains for children. School enrollment and performance
may be affected differently by the different interventions and
the degree of housing instability the family has endured.
Variants of these items have
been used previously with
homeless children.

These questions measure
behavior and performance at
school. The interventions might
be expected to have differing
effects on school performance
and attendance.

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey ▌pg. E-4

Q Number
E4

Question
In the last month that you were in
school, how hard have you worked on
your homework?
E5
In the last month that you were in
school how hard have you tried to work
during the school day?
F: Involved Vigilant Parenting

Source

F1-F20

SAAF (Murry et al., 2011)

These next questions are about your
relationship with your parents.

G: Children’s HOPE Scale
G1-G6.

Uses

Justification

In prior child outcome studies, involved, vigilant parenting
has been a strong predictor of mental health and risk taking
behaviors.
This instrument has been used
with low-income African
American families.

Youth complete the HOPE Scale, which is a measure of selfefficacy.

Next, I have some questions about how CHILD HOPE Scale (Snyder et
you feel about yourself. I will read some Al., 1997)
sentences and for each please tell me
whether it is true for you None of the
time, A little of the time, A lot of the time,
Most of the time, or All of the time.

Acronym

Sources for Questions
(Referenced in Item-by-Item Justification)
Full Source Name

TRAITS
Fears
Life Events
YRBS
McBride Murry, Velma Vigilant Parenting (SAAF)

State Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (T-Anxiety Scale)
FEAR Scale
Life Events Questionnaire

HOPE Scale

HOPE Scale

Abt Associates Inc.

Youth Risk Behavior Survey (tobacco, alcohol, and drug use items)

Strong African American Families Study

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey ▌pg. E-5

TRAITS
The STAIC T-Anxiety scale consists of 20 item statements, and subjects respond to these items by indicating how they generally feel, rather than
how they feel at a particular moment in time.
The T-Anxiety scale measures relatively stable individual differences in anxiety proneness, that is, differences between children in the tendency
to experience anxiety states.
Spielberger, C. D., Edwards, C. D., Lushene, R. E., Montuori, J., & Platzek, D. (1973). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children: Professional
manual. Redwood City, CA: Mind Garden, Inc.

Life Events Questionnaire
Masten, A.S., Neeman, J., Andenas, S., 1994. Life events and adjustment in adolescents: the significance of event independence, desirability, and
chronicity. Journal of Research on Adolescence 4, 71-97.

HOPE Scale (Snyder)
The Children’s Hope Scale iIs a six-item dispositional self-report index introduced and validated for use with children ages 8-16. Results suggest
that the scale evidence internal consistency, and is relatively stable over retesting. Assuming that children are goal-oriented, it is suggested that
their thoughts are related to two components--agency and pathways. Agency thoughts reflect the perception that children can initiate and sustain
action toward a desired goal; pathways thoughts reflect the children's perceived capability to produce routes to those goals. Hope reflects the
combination of agentic and pathways thinking toward goals.
Snyder, C. R., Hoza, B., Pelham, W. E., Rapoff, M., Ware, L., Danovsky, M., Highberger, L., Ribinstein, H., and Stahl, K. J. (1997). The
development and validation of the Children's Hope Scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22(3), 399-421.

CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Available at: www.cdc.gov/yrbs.

FEAR Scale (Ramirez et al.)
(Ramirez, M., Masten, A., Samsa, D. (1991, April). Fears in homeless children. Paper presented at the biennial meeting for the Society for
Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA

Abt Associates Inc.

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey ▌pg. E-6

SAAF: Strong African American Families-- Involved Vigilant Parenting
The Strong African American Families (SAAF) program was designed for low-income African American children who are nearing adolescence.
The program seeks to prevent initiation to risk behaviors such as drug abuse, alcohol and cigarette use, and sexual activity. An experimental
evaluation in which four counties were randomly assigned to the treatment or a no-treatment control recruited 11-year-old students from schools in
each county. Analyses of the SAAF program found that it was effective in increasing positive parenting behaviors, protective factors in children,
and decreasing risk behaviors in children. Program impacts persisted at a two-year follow-up; children had higher levels of protective factors and
were less likely to start drinking alcohol.
(Murry, V. M., Berkel, C., Chen, I.-f., Brody, G. H., Gibbons, F. X., & Gerrard, M. (2011). Intervention induced changes on parenting practices,
youth self-pride and sexual norms; to reduce HIV-related behaviors among rural African American youths. Journal of Youth and
Adolescence, 40, 1147-1163.)

Abt Associates Inc.

Appendix E. DRAFT Item by Item Justification: 36-Month Child Follow-up Survey ▌pg. E-7