Page Last Updated: May 13, 2026

HOME-21 Infant-Toddler🔗

Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Infant-Toddler Version

Table Name	`sed_cg_home_it`
Construct	Child’s Home Environment: Cognitive Stimulation and Emotional Support in the Home
Study Visits	V04, V06
Administration	Child-specific: No Respondent: Birth Parent or Primary Caregiver Method: HBCD Study staff or self-administered (in-person or remote) (10 min estimated duration)
Quality Control	Subject matter experts constructed an algorithm to verify and correct scores computed automatically.

The HBCD dataset includes many variables that may be important for sound and comprehensive analysis. The inclusion of additional variables will depend on the research question(s) and methodological approach. Users are encouraged to take time to explore the full range of available variables—especially those that may serve as controls, contextual indicators, confounders, mechanisms, or modifiers—to ensure thoughtful and well-supported analytic decisions. Other important considerations may include developmental functioning, broader family supports, and early adverse and protective exposures.

Instrument Details🔗

Assessment of children’s home environments is crucial to understanding contexts and experiences that are important predictors of children’s development. The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory (Caldwell & Bradley, 2016, 2003) is one of the most widely used measures of the quality and quantity of support available to a child in the child’s home environment. The HOME-21 is a revision of the HOME-Short Form that was used in the NLSY. The HOME-21 includes updates to tool to be responsive to changes in the composition of families, gender roles and the division of childcare in families, norms about the acceptability and advisability of different forms of discipline, and the digital environment in which children live (Lansford et al., 2023).

For HBCD, HOME-21 was adapted for more inclusive language (“sister or brother” changed to “sibling(s)”; “family members” changed to “another adult in your home”).

Individual items are re-scored as Yes (1)/No (0) and summed within two domains, Cognitive Stimulation (range 0-8) and Emotional Support (range 0-3), plus a total score (range 0-12). The tool is intended to be used in infants aged Birth - 2y 11m 30d. See the table below for details and Lansford et al. (2023) for complete scoring procedure details.

COGNITIVE STIMULATION

Item	Response Options	Recode/Scoring
About how many children’s books does your child have?	1 = None; 2 = 1–2; 3 = 3–9; 4 = 10–19; 5 = 20 or more	1-3 → No (0) 4, 5 → Yes (1)
Does your family have reliable access to the internet?	0 = No, 1 = Yes	0 = No, 1 = Yes
How often does your whole family get together with relatives or friends?	1 = Once a year or less; 2 = A few times a year; 3 = Once a month; 4 = Two or three times a month; 5 = Once a week or more	1-3 → No (0) 4, 5 → Yes (1)
How often does your child spend time with you or another adult in your home doing outdoor activities (like going for a walk outside, playing at a park playground)?	1 = Never; 2 = A few times a year or less; 3 = Once a month; 4 = Once a week; 5 = At least four times a week; 6 = Once a day or more often	1-3 → No (0) 4, 5, 6 → Yes (1)
How often do you or another adult in your home get a chance to read stories to your child?	1 = Never; 2 = Several times a year; 3 = Several times a month; 4 = Once a week; 5 = About 3 times a week; 6 = Every day	1-4 → No (0) 5, 6 → Yes (1)
How often do you or another adult in your home take your child shopping (like going to the grocery store)?	1 = Hardly ever; 2 = Once a month; 3 = Once a week; 4 = Twice a week or more	1, 2 → No (0) 3, 4 → Yes (1)
Does your child have cuddly, soft, or role-playing toys (like a doll)? These may be shared with sibling(s).	0 = No, 1 = Yes	0 = No, 1 = Yes
Does your child have toys that they can push or pull? These may be shared with sibling(s).	0 = No, 1 = Yes	0 = No, 1 = Yes

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT

Item	Response Options	Recode/Scoring
How often does your child eat a meal with you or another adult in your home?	1 = Never; 2 = Once a month or less; 3 = Once a week; 4 = Several times a week; 5 = Once a day; 6 = More than once a day	1-3 → No (0) 4, 5, 6 → Yes (1)
How many times, if any, have you spanked your child in the past week?	0 = No; 1 = 1–2 times; 3 = 3–4 times; 4 = 5–6 times; 5 = 7 times or more	0 → Yes (1) 1-5 → No (0)
Children seem to demand attention when their parents are busy, doing housework, for example. How often do you talk to your child while you are working?	1 = Never; 2 = Rarely; 3 = Sometimes; 4 = Often; 5 = Always	1-3 → No (0) 4, 5 → Yes (1)

OTHER (not included in summary scores)

Item	Response Options	Recode/Scoring
About how many hours are the TV or other screens in your home in use each day?	1 = Less than 1 hour; 2 = 1–2 hours; 3 = 3–4 hours; 4 = 5–7 hours; 5 = 8 hours or more	4, 5 → No (0) 1, 2, 3 → Yes (1)

References🔗

Bradley, R. H., Corwyn, R. F., McAdoo, H. P., & Coll, C. G. (2001). The home environments of children in the United States part I: variations by age, ethnicity, and poverty status. Child Development, 72(6), 1844–1867. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.t01-1-00382

Bradley, Robert H. (2015). Constructing and adapting causal and formative measures of family settings: The HOME Inventory as illustration. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 7(4), 381–414. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12108

Bradley, Robert H., & Caldwell, B. M. (1984). The HOME Inventory and family demographics. Developmental Psychology, 20(2), 315–320. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.20.2.315

Caldwell, B. M., & Bradley, R. H. (2003). Home observation measurement environment: Administration manual (pp. 23–33).

Caldwell BM, & Bradley RH (2016). Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. Tempe, AZ: The Connect Center, Arizona State University.

Lansford, J. E., Odgers, C. L., Bradley, R. H., Godwin, J., Copeland, W. E., Rothenberg, W. A., & Dodge, K. A. (2023). The HOME-21: A revised measure of the home environment for the 21st century tested in two independent samples. Psychological Assessment, 35(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001183

Mott, F. L. (2004). The utility of the HOME-SF scale for child development research in a large national longitudinal survey: The national longitudinal survey of youth 1979 cohort. Parenting, Science and Practice, 4(2–3), 259–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2004.9681273