THE EARLY-CHILDHOOD HOME INVENTORY AND HOME SHORT-FORM IN DIFFERING RACIAL ETHNIC GROUPS - ARE THERE DIFFERENCES IN UNDERLYING STRUCTURE, INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF SUBSCALES, AND PATTERNS OF PREDICTION/

In this article, we examine differences across three racial/ethnic gro ups in (a) the psychometric properties of the Early Childhood HOME Inv entory and the HOME-Short Form and (b) the prediction of the two versi ons of the HOME Inventory to cognitive and behavioral outcomes among p reschool children. Data are taken from the National Longitudinal Surve y of Youth-Child Supplement (NLSY-CS) and the Infant Health and Develo pment program (MDP) sample. Findings suggest few racial/ethnic differe nces in the psychometric properties of either version of the HOME scal e. Both show better prediction of cognitive child outcomes for all thr ee racial/ethnic groups. Both show better prediction of child outcomes generally for European American than for Hispanic and African America n families. Findings suggest that although certain aspects of parentin g are common, these dimensions of parenting are not equally important in explaining child outcomes for different racial/ethnic subgroups.