{"id":46,"date":"2015-06-09T14:06:45","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T14:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/researchbdev.wpengine.com\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/?page_id=46"},"modified":"2025-06-09T14:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T14:21:19","slug":"the-infant-behavior-questionnaire","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/instrument-descriptions\/the-infant-behavior-questionnaire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Infant Behavior Questionnaire  (IBQ and IBQ-R)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-49\" src=\"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/files\/2015\/06\/sara-4-months.jpg\" alt=\"Sara 4 Months\" width=\"254\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/files\/2015\/06\/sara-4-months.jpg 254w, https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/files\/2015\/06\/sara-4-months-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/files\/2015\/06\/sara-4-months-250x325.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/>The original IBQ was developed by Dr. Rothbart in the early 1980s and first reported in the 1981 Child Development article, &#8220;Measurement of Temperament in Infancy&#8221; (Rothbart, 1981).This early form of the instrument assessed 6 domains of infant temperament (activity level, soothability, fear, distress to limitations, smiling and laughter, and duration of orienting).The items on the IBQ ask parents to rate the frequency of specific temperament-related behaviors observed over the past week (or sometimes 2 weeks).<\/p>\n<p>In 1998, Dr. Rothbart and her colleague, Dr. Masha Gartstein, revised the IBQ by refining the original scales and adding several new scales. The new instrument is referred to as the IBQ-Revised (IBQ-R). Short (91 items; 14 scales) and Very Short (37 items; 3 broad scales) forms of the IBQ-R were developed by Sam Putnam and colleagues in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>The following non-English versions of the IBQ-R are available for download:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An <strong>Arabic <\/strong>version of the<strong> IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Andrea Berger at Ben-Gurion University of Negev.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Bengali<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R Very Short Form<\/strong>, translated by <em>Rita Chatterjee<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chinese<\/strong> (Taiwan) versions of the <strong>IBQ-R Standard and Very Short <\/strong>Forms, <em>translated by Keng-Ling Lay of National Taiwan University<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Chinese (simplified Mainland) version of the IBQ-R Very Short Form<\/strong>, translated by <em>Nadia Abdelouahab, Wang Guanghai, Ouyang Fengxiu and Xu Jian<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Czech <\/strong>versions of the<strong> IBQ-R<\/strong> <strong>Standard <\/strong>and <strong>Very Short <\/strong>Forms,<em> translated by Milo\u0148 Potm\u011b\u0161il and Petra Potm\u011b\u0161ilov\u00e1 of Palacky of University in Olomouc<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Danish <\/strong>version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong> <strong>Very Short <\/strong>Form, <em>translated by Katrine Isabella Wendelboe and Johanne Smith-Nielson<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dutch<\/strong> versions of the <strong>IBQ-R Standard, Short and Very Short <\/strong>Forms, <em>translated by M. Roest-Zeeuw and K. van Doesum<\/em>, with minor corrections made by Christina Bergmann, Julia Egger and Cielke Hendriks.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Finnish<\/strong> versions of the <strong>IBQ-R Standard, Short<\/strong> and <strong>Very Short<\/strong> forms, <em>translated by Katri Raikkonen-Talvitie, Kati Heinonon, and the Developmental Psychology Research Group of University of Helsinki<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>French<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Thomas Cascales<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>German<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ Standard and Short<\/strong>, <em>translated by Susanne Kristen, Hannah Eisenbus, Claudia Thoermer, and Beate Sodian<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>German<\/strong> versions of the <strong>IBQ-R Standard<\/strong> and <strong>Very Short<\/strong> Forms, <em>translated by Susanne Kristen, Hannah Eisenbus, Claudia Thoermer, and Beate Sodian<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Greek<\/strong> versions of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong> <strong>Short<\/strong> and <strong>Very Short<\/strong> Forms, <em>translated by M Arampatzi and L. Zacharaki,<\/em> with minor adaptations of the VSF by Alice Hatzoglou.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Hebrew<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ<\/strong>, <em>translated by Ariel Knafo<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Hungarian<\/strong> versions of the <strong>IBQ, IBQ-R Standard<\/strong>, and <strong>IBQ-R Very Short<\/strong> Forms,<em> translated by Krisztina Lakatos<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Italian<\/strong> versions of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong> <strong>Standard, Short,<\/strong> and <strong>Very Short<\/strong> Forms, <em>translated by Rosario Montirosso, Patrizia Cozzi, and Sam Putnam<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Japanese <\/strong>version of the<strong> IBQ<\/strong>, <em>translated by Kazuo Miyake, Nobuko Hoshi, and Emiko Kusanagi<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Japanese<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Astuko Nakagawa<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Kannada<\/strong> (spoken in South Indian state of Karnataka) version of the <strong>IBQ<\/strong>, <em>translated by Michelle Fernandes<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Kiswahili<\/strong> (spoken by Swahili communities in East Africa) version of the IBQ-R, <em>translated by Joy K. Minyenya and Cindy M. Makanga<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Korean<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Keumjoo Kwak and Suchung Kim<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Lithuanian<\/strong> versions of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, translated by\u00a0<em>Dalia Nasvytien\u0117 and\u00a0Tomas Lazdauskas<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Maltese<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, translation arranged by <em>Ingrid Grech Lanfranco<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Norwegian (Bokmal)<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ<\/strong>, <em>translated by Anne Mari Torgersen<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Norwegian (Bokmal)<\/strong> translations of <strong>short<\/strong> versions of <strong>select IBQ-R scales<\/strong>, <em>translated by Harald Janson and Asne Naerde<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Persian<\/strong> translation of<strong> IBQ-R<\/strong>. \u00a0Translated by <em>Faeazeh Hosseini<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Polish<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Wojciecha \u0141. Dragana, Gra\u017cyny Kmity and Krzysztofa Fronczyka<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Portuguese (Brazilian)<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Vivian Caroline Klein and Maria Beatriz Martins Linhares;\u00a0<\/em>and a Portuguese (Brazilian) version of the<strong> IBQ-R Very Short Form<\/strong> compiled by Ana Osorio and Vera Mateus from items translated by Klein and Linhares<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Portuguese (European)<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em><em>translated by Jo\u00e3o Moreira<\/em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Romanian<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ<\/strong>, <em>translated by Oana Benga and Elena Geangu<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Russian<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Helena Slobodskaya<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Serbian-Bosnian<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R Short Form<\/strong>, <em>translated by Olja Borovnica<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>A<strong> Somali<\/strong> version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, translation <em>arranged by Sarah Roytek<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Spanish (Chilean) <\/strong>version of the <strong>IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Chamarrita Farkas at The Psychology School of the Pontifica Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Chile<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Spanish (European)<\/strong> version of the<strong>\u00a0IBQ-R<\/strong>, <em>translated by Carmen Gonzalez and GIPSE (el Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n en Psicolog\u00eda Evolutiva at the University of Murcia, Spain),<\/em>\u00a0with <strong>Short and Very Short<\/strong> forms derived by <em>Miguel Carrasco<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Spanish (Mexican) <\/strong>version of the<strong> IBQ<\/strong>, <em>translated by Carmen Gonzalez and GIPSE (el Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n en Psicolog\u00eda Evolutiva at the University of Murcia, Spain)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Spanish (Mexican)<\/strong> versions of the IBQ-R<strong> Very short and standard forms<\/strong>, t<em>ranslated by Carmen Gonzalez and GIPSE (el Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n en Psicolog\u00eda Evolutiva at the University of Murcia, Spain) and revised by Sally Myers.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Swedish<\/strong> versions of the IBQ-R <strong>Standard, Short and Very Short<\/strong> Forms; <em>translated by Eric Zander<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Tagalog<\/strong> version of the IBQ-R <strong>Short<\/strong> Form (pdf), <em>translated by Gemmie Low, Elvira Suniega-Tolentino, and Tinu Mary Samuel.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Turkish<\/strong> version of the IBQ-R <strong>Standard<\/strong> form&#8217; <em>translated by\u00a0G\u00fcls\u00fcn \u00dcnal Yarar and\u00a0<span dir=\"ltr\">Sibel Kazak-Berument; <\/span><\/em><span dir=\"ltr\">and <strong>Very Short Form,<\/strong><\/span><em><span dir=\"ltr\"> translated by <\/span>M\u00fcyesser Fazlioglu and \u00d6zden Yal<span class=\"ILfuVd\"><span class=\"hgKElc\">\u00e7<\/span><\/span>inkaya-Alkar<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>Vietnamese<\/strong> version of the IBQ-R <strong>Very Short Form<\/strong> (pdf). <em>Translated by Hien Anh T. Nguyen and\u00a0 Mizuki Takegata<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Questionnaire<\/p>\n<p>The IBQ and IBQ-R have been designed to measure temperament in infants between the ages of 3 and 12 months. The IBQ-R assesses the following dimensions of temperament:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Activity Level<\/strong>: Movement of arms and legs, squirming and locomotor activity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distress to Limitations<\/strong>: Baby&#8217;s fussing, crying or showing distress while a) in a confining place or position; b) involved in caretaking activities; c) unable to perform a desired action.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Approach<\/strong>: Rapid approach, excitement, and positive anticipation of pleasurable activities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fear<\/strong>: The baby&#8217;s startle or distress to sudden changes in stimulation, novel physical objects or social stimuli; inhibited approach to novelty.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Duration of Orienting<\/strong>: The baby&#8217;s attention to and\/or interaction with a single object for extended periods of time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Smiling and Laughter<\/strong>: Smiling or laughter from the child in general caretaking and play situations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vocal Reactivity<\/strong>: Amount of vocalization exhibited by the baby in daily activities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sadness<\/strong>: General low mood; lowered mood and activity specifically related to personal suffering, physical state, object loss, or inability to perform a desired action.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Perceptual Sensitivity<\/strong>: Amount of detection of slight, low intensity stimuli from the external environment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>High Intensity Pleasure<\/strong>: Amount of pleasure or enjoyment related to high stimulus intensity, rate, complexity, novelty, and incongruity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Low Intensity Pleasure<\/strong>: Amount of pleasure or enjoyment related to situations involving low stimulus intensity, rate, complexity, novelty, and incongruity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cuddliness<\/strong>: The baby&#8217;s expression of enjoyment and molding of the body to being held by a caregiver.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soothability<\/strong>: Baby&#8217;s reduction of fussing, crying, or distress when the caretaker uses soothing techniques.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Falling Reactivity\/Rate of Recovery from Distress<\/strong>:Rate of recovery from peak distress, excitement, or general arousal; ease of falling asleep.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>For questions regarding the IBQ or IBQ-R, contact Masha Gartstein at <a href=\"mailto:gartstma@wsu.edu\">gartstma@wsu.edu<\/a> (postal mail: Department of Psychology, Washington State University, PO Box 644820, Pullman, WA 99164-4820)<\/p>\n<p>Please note that these questionnaires are to be used for research purposes only. If you are interested in acquiring current versions of these instruments, we request that you first complete our <a href=\"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/request-forms\/\">request form<\/a>, providing us with a brief description of your plans for use of the measures. Following the completion of your research, we request that you contact us to inform us of the results of your project as they relate to the temperament scales.In this way, we hope to coordinate attempts at validation of the scales.<\/p>\n<p>Documentation:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/files\/2016\/09\/1981_Measrmnt_of_temp_in_Infancy.pdf\">Rothbart, M. K. (1981). Measurement of temperament in infancy. Child Development, 52, 569-578.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/files\/2016\/09\/2003-ibq-studying-infant-behavior.pdf\">Gartstein, M. A., &amp; Rothbart, M. K. (2003). Studying infant temperament via the Revised Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 26 (1), 64-86.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/files\/2016\/09\/IBQ-R_short_form_ms.pdf\">Putnam, S. P., Helbig, A. L., Gartstein, M. A., Rothbart, M. K. &amp; Leerkes, E. (2014). Development and Assessment of Short and Very Short Forms of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96, 445-458.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The original IBQ was developed by Dr. Rothbart in the early 1980s and first reported in the 1981 Child Development article, &#8220;Measurement of Temperament in Infancy&#8221; (Rothbart, 1981).This early form of the instrument assessed 6 domains of infant temperament (activity level, soothability, fear, distress to limitations, smiling and laughter, and duration of orienting).The items on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-46","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/rothbart-temperament-questionnaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}