ABSTRACT
Sometimes scales are broken into sub-scales. If so, the item-subscale correlation is also considered, which is the correlation between an item and the subscale total. In general, but not always, item-subscale totals should be higher than item-total correlations. If an item has a non-significant item-total correlation, it suggests the item does not measure what the rest of the scale measures. If the correlation is smaller than that, the item will often be deleted from the scale as it is too weakly related to the rest of the items. This chapter discusses the development of the parent-reported "Retrospective Infant Behavioral Inhibition" (RIBI) questionnaire covering behavioral inhibition (BI) in the first and second year of life. The basic theoretical orientation for the test construction of the RIBI was based on the three behavioral features of BI in children according to Kagan and colleagues namely: Distress to Novelty, Fear, and Shyness.
