Altmann Elena C, Bazhydai Marina, Karadağ Didar, Westermann Gert
Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Infancy. 2025 Jan-Feb;30(1):e70001. doi: 10.1111/infa.70001.
Humans are curious. Especially children are known for their drive to explore and learn, which is crucial for developing in and navigating through our complex world. Naturally, some children may be more curious than others, leading to differences in how they structure their own learning experiences, subsequently impacting their developmental trajectories. However, there is a gap in the research field for a reliable measure of such differences early in development. Across three studies, we present the development and assessment of the Infant and Toddler Curiosity Questionnaire (ITCQ), the first caregiver report measure to fill this gap. Items cover observable exploration behaviors in 5- to 24-month-olds to capture general tendencies of their desire to actively explore their immediate surroundings and are evaluated on a 7-point Likert-scale. Exploratory factor analyses and structural equation modeling on a sample of N = 370 UK caregivers led to the final selection of 23 items and provided evidence that the scale allows the reliable computation of an overall curiosity score, with three emergent subscales (Sensory, Investigative, and Interactive) explaining additional variance in the data. Furthermore, the scale had good test-retest reliability after 7-14 days (N = 67) and related to the child's temperament (N = 75; positively with surgency and effortful control, negatively with negative affect) offering evidence of its validity as a trait measure. Together, these results support the scale's reliability and validity, showcasing the ITCQ as a powerful tool for developmental research.
人类充满好奇心。尤其是儿童，他们以探索和学习的动力而闻名，这对于在我们这个复杂的世界中成长和 navigate through 至关重要。自然而然地，有些孩子可能比其他孩子更好奇，这导致他们构建自己学习经历的方式存在差异，进而影响他们的发展轨迹。然而，在研究领域，对于在发育早期可靠地测量这种差异存在空白。在三项研究中，我们展示了婴幼儿好奇心问卷（ITCQ）的开发和评估，这是填补这一空白的首个照顾者报告测量工具。项目涵盖了5至24个月大婴儿的可观察到的探索行为，以捕捉他们积极探索周围环境的普遍倾向，并采用7点李克特量表进行评估。对N = 370名英国照顾者的样本进行探索性因素分析和结构方程建模，最终筛选出23个项目，并提供证据表明该量表能够可靠地计算总体好奇心得分，有三个新出现的子量表（感官、探究和互动）解释了数据中的额外方差。此外，该量表在7至14天（N = 67）后具有良好的重测信度，并且与孩子的气质相关（N = 75；与外向性和努力控制呈正相关，与消极情绪呈负相关），证明了其作为特质测量工具的有效性。总之，这些结果支持了该量表的信度和效度，表明ITCQ是发展研究的有力工具。
