Naming Conventions🔗

The instrument table and variable names used for tabulated HBCD study data largely follow standardized naming conventions adapted from the ABCD Study. This ensures consistency across instruments and derived datasets, allowing for intuitive parsing of variable meaning and structure.

Convention Logic & Rules🔗

Variable names are constructed from a set of ordered main components separated by single underscores. Subcomponents, if present, are preceded by double or triple underscores, which represent subscale, version, or counter type and multiselect fields. Main components include:

domain_source_table_{scale}_item
  • The first 3 main components, domain_source_table, make up the name of the table
  • {scale} is only included for instruments that have subscales
Naming Component Possible Values
domain
Data domain
  • bio: Biospecimen & Omics
  • eeg: Tabular EEG
  • img: Tabular Imaging
  • mh: Behavior/Child-Caregiver Interaction
  • ncl: Neurocognition and Language
  • nt: Novel Technology & Wearable Sensors
  • ph: Physical Health
  • pex: Pregnancy/Exposure Including Substance
  • sed: Social and Environmental Determinants
source
Respondent OR who the data is about
  • bm: Biological Mother
  • cg: Caregiver (Responsible Adult)
  • ch: Child
  • ld: Linked Data
  • ra: RA (Research Assistant)
table
Instrument name
e.g., ibqr — Infant Behavior Questionnaire–Revised (IBQ-R)
{scale}
Instrument subscale, as applicable
e.g., mh_cg_ibqr_beh_001 = Behavioral Inhibition subscale
item
Item number OR admin/score fields
  • Item number example: 001
  • See Variable Types for details on administrative and summary score fields

Exceptions🔗

Some table/variable names deviate from the standard naming conventions and will be standardized in the future. Main exceptions include the following. See Study Instruments for more details about each domain. This includes, for example, Demographics, which are derived data tables with unconventional table naming (sed_basic_demographics and par_visit_data).
Tabulated derivatives generated from processed imaging and EEG data also follow slightly different conventions (where derivative corresponds to the basename of the source derivative files):

domain_pipeline_derivative

For example, the BIBSNet tabulated file: img_bibsnet_space-T1w_desc-aseg_volumes.tsv
is sourced from: sub-[ID]_ses-[V0X]_space-T1w_desc-aseg_volumes.tsv