Glossary of terms
‘Anti-social / Worried’ At primary school entry, teachers rated the social behaviour of EPPE
children using the CSBQ. A factor analysis of the 45 items resulted in the extraction of 6
underlying factors. Primary school entry factor 4 measures the child’s tendency to show
behaviour that is disruptive to others or that is aggressive or destructive. Often, but not always,
such behaviour occurs together with indications of worry or upset by the child. This scale is
termed ‘Anti-social / Worried’. Similarly, a factor analysis of the ASBI (rated by a pre-school
worker at entry to the study) resulted in the extraction of 5 underlying factors with entry to study
factor 4 and 5 measuring ‘Anti-social’ and ‘Worried / Upset’ behaviour.
ASBI The Adaptive Social Behaviour Inventory (ASBI) (Hogan et al, 1992) is a rating scale
consisting of 30 items completed by a caregiver of a child. The items can be combined to
produce factors that are measures of different aspects of the child’s social behaviour.
‘at risk’ The EYTSEN report acknowledges that the term ‘at risk’ is a complex one which will
differ depending on the particular criteria used. In the EYTSEN study ‘cognitive risk’ is defined
as 1 sd below national average and ‘strong cognitive risk’ as 1 sd below sample average.
‘Social/behavioural risk’ is defined as 1 sd below sample average. These provide definitions of
children who may be seen to be ‘at risk’ on the basis of their cognitive attainment or
Social/behavioural development at entry to pre-school.
Attendance The number of sessions attended at the target centre by an EPPE child from entry
to study (BAS assessment) until exit from target pre-school centre (from attendance records of
pre-school centre). This measure provides a crude indicator of amount of pre-school experience.
Baseline measures Social/behavioural ratings given by the careworker at entry to the study.
These social/behavioural scores are subsequently employed as prior social/behavioural
measures in a value added analysis of pupils’ social/behavioural outcomes.
Birth weight Babies born weighing 2500 grams (5lbs 8oz) or less are defined as below normal
birth weight, fetal infant classification is below 1000 grams, very low birth weight is classified as
1001-1005 grams and low birth weight is classified as 1501-2500 grams (Scott and Caren,
1989).
Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS) A rating scale consisting of 26 items completed by an
observer of the interactions between caregivers and children. The items are grouped to produce
4 subscales: positive relationships, punitiveness, permissiveness and detachment. The CIS was
developed by Arnett (1989).
- Positive relationships is a subscale made up of 10 items indicating warmth and enthusiastic
interaction with children by the caregiver.
- Punitiveness is a subscale made up of 8 items indicating harsh or over-controlling behaviour in
interaction with children by the caregiver.
- Permissiveness is a subscale made up of 4 items indicating avoidance of discipline and control
of children by the caregiver.
- Detachment is a subscale made up of 4 items indicating lack of involvement in interaction with
children by the caregiver.
Centre level variance The proportion of variance in a particular child outcome measure (e.g.
pre-reading scores at start of primary school) attributable to differences between individual
centres rather than differences between individual children.
Child background factors Child background characteristics such as age, gender, or ethnicity.
Compositional effects The impact of peer group measures on a child’s individual outcomes.
For example, when the characteristics of children in a centre (measured as a centre level
aggregated variable) show a significant relationship with outcomes at the individual child level,
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