WHAT DOES THE NCATS MEASURE

The purpose of this study was to examine what aspects of the mother-ch ild relationship are measured by the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching kale (NCATS). A racially heterogeneous sample of 128 mothers complete d questionnaires measuring maternal depression, parenting self-efficac y, knowledge of developmental and parenting principles, and perceived difficult toddler temperament. Mothers and children were also videotap ed during home visits while completing two teaching tasks that were la ter scored using the NCATS. NCATS Parent subscale scores were signific antly related to maternal knowledge and education but unrelated to dep ression and self-efficacy. Child subscale scores were unrelated to all of the study variables, including perceived difficult temperament. Si gnificant differences were noted among African-Americans, Hispanic, an d white mothers. The findings suggest that the NCATS taps cognitive fa ctors more reliably than affective factors underlying the mother-child relationship and the cognitive factors may be culturally biased.