Page Last Updated: May 14, 2026

MAPS-TL🔗

Multidimensional Assessment Profiles - Temper Loss Scale

MAPS-TL Infancy (<1 year old)MAPS-TL Toddlerhood & Preschool
Table Namemh_cg_mapdb__infmh_cg_mapdb__tod
ConstructIrritability
Study VisitsV03V05
Administration
  • Child-specific: Yes
  • Respondent: Primary Caregiver on Child
  • Method: Self-administered remotely (5 min estimated duration)
Quality Control
  • Examine missingness by counting items answered per participant.
  • Check age is within expected ranges (3-9/10-17 months for Infant/Toddlerhood).
  • Review summary statistics and visualizations (item frequencies, age, prorated scores).
  • Cronbach's Alpha calculated to assess reliability.
Responsible Use Warning ▸

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.

Data Warning ▸

The MAPS-TL assesses normative variations in child behavior and should be interpreted within the context of the child's age and developmental stage. This is not clinical or diagnostic instrument.

Please review the Known Issues & Pending Updates page for updates that may affect data use.

Instrument Details🔗

The Multidimensional Assessment Profiles- Temper Loss scale (MAPS-TL) is a well-validated survey assessing irritability that serves as a tool for characterizing the developmental expression of early mental health risk. MAPS-TL measures a range of behaviors that encompass dysregulation, responsiveness to environmental input, and context. Questions inquire about the behaviors of the focal child over the past month. Irritability has been identified as an early dimensional marker of lifespan mental health risk. MAPS-TL aims to delineate the typical-to-atypical spectrum of irritability in early childhood and identify those young children at high probability of subsequent adaptational problems based on problems with dysregulation.

HBCD Modification Details ▸

General Language Modifications
Alterations were made to replace “parent” with “parent/caregiver” where appropriate. In addition, measure instructions and individual items that reference gendered pronouns (‘his/hers’, ‘he/she’) were edited to either eliminate the pronouns entirely or replaced with ‘my child’ when eliminating pronouns was not grammatically possible. Because the psychometric validation for these measures was done using items from the original measures, future publications should account for and note edits made to individual items.

Scoring Procedures ▸

The MAPS-TL includes 17 items at Visit 3 (V03) and 40 items at Visit 5 (V05). Each item is rated by the caregiver on a 6-point frequency scale:

1 2 3 4 5 6
Never Rarely
(Less than once per week)		 Some (1-3)
days of the week		 Most (4-6)
days of the week		 Every day of the week Many times each day

A summary score is generated when the caregiver provides responses for at least:

  • 9 of 17 items at V03, or
  • 20 of 40 items at V05.

If fewer than the required number of items are answered, the score is recorded as missing. When some but not all items are completed (9–16 at V03 or 20–39 at V05), a prorated score is computed as:

\[ \text{Prorated Score} = \left( \frac{\text{Sum of answered items}}{\text{Number of items answered}} \right) \times \text{Total number of items (17 for V03 or 40 for V05)} \]

Higher scores indicate more frequent occurrence of the measured behaviors.

References🔗

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

Krogh-Jespersen, S., Kaat, A. J., Petitclerc, A., Perlman, S. B., Briggs-Gowan, M. J., Burns, J. L., Adam, H., Nili, A., Gray, L., & Wakschlag, L. S. (2022). Calibrating temper loss severity in the transition to toddlerhood: Implications for developmental science. Applied Developmental Science, 26(4), 785–798. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2021.1995386