Page Last Updated: May 14, 2026

ecPROMIS Peer Relationships Scale🔗

Table Name	`mh_cg_pms__peer`
Construct	Peer Relationships
Study Visits	V05, V07, V09
Administration	Child-specific: Yes Respondent: Primary Caregiver on Child Method: Self-administered remotely (1-2 min estimated duration)
Quality Control	Examine missingness by counting items answered per participant. Check age is within expected ranges. Review summary statistics and visualizations (item frequencies, age, prorated scores).

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🔗

The ecPROMIS (Early Childhood Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System) is a set of primary caregiver report questionnaires that offer clinicians and researchers a brief, efficient, and precise way to evaluate young children’s well-being. The Peer Relationships Scale assesses young children’s positive peer interactions, sociability (getting along well with others), and empathic behaviors.

The item [peer_yn] was added to the beginning of the survey instrument for HBCD to assess whether the child had opportunities to interact with other children during the primary period (past 7 days).

Item text: “My child had opportunities to interact with other children."
Response options: 0 [No]; 1 [Yes]; Decline to Answer

The addition of [peer_yn] does not affect scoring (as the item isn't scored), but can be used as a filter variable for analyses. This item was added with the approval of the measure creators. However, because ecPROMIS measures are copyrighted, it is important that any publications using this variable note that [peer_yn] was not part of the original measure.

The Peer Relationship Scale includes the unscored peer_yn item and 4 scored items answered on a scale of 1-5:
1 = Never 2 = Almost Never 3 = Sometimes 4 = Often 5 = Almost Always Decline to Answer = missing

If all items are answered, their sum is used as the total score. If fewer than three items are completed, the score is set to missing. If at least three items are answered but some are missing, a prorated score is calculated as:

\[ \text{Prorated Score} = \left( \frac{\text{Sum of answered items}}{\text{Number of items answered}} \right) \times \text{4} \]

References🔗

Blackwell, C. K., Lai, J.-S., Kallen, M., Bevans, K. B., Davis, M. M., Wakschlag, L. S., & Cella, D. (2022). Measuring PROMIS® Social Relationships in early childhood. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 47(5), 573–584. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsac031

Cella, D., Blackwell, C. K., & Wakschlag, L. S. (2022). Bringing PROMIS to Early Childhood: Introduction and quaptative methods for the development of Early Childhood Parent Report instruments. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 47(5), 500–509. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsac027

Edwards, R. C., Planalp, E. M., Bosquet-Enlow, M., Akshoomoff, N., Bodison, S. C., Brennan, M. B., Ciciolla, L., Eiden, R. D., Fillipi, C. A., Gustafsson, H. C., McKelvey, L. M., Morris, A. S., Peralta-Carcelén, M., Poehlmann, J., Wakschlag, L. S., Wilson, S., & HBCD Child Behavior and Caregiver-Child Interaction Workgroup. (2024). Capturing the complexity of child behavior and caregiver-child relationships in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study using a rigorous and equitable approach. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 69, 101422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101422

Lai, J.-S., Kallen, M. A., Blackwell, C. K., Wakschlag, L. S., & Cella, D. (2022). Psychometric considerations in developing PROMIS® measures for early childhood. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 47(5), 510–522. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsac025

Park, C. H., Blaisdell, C. J., & Gillman, M. W. (2022). The NIH ECHO program: An impetus for the development of early childhood PROMIS tools. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 47(5), 497–499. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsac010