Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Child Neglect Questionnaire

Neglect poses a significant risk for children throughout their development and is often linked with serious consequences that reach into adulthood. The Child Neglect Questionnaire (CNQ) fills existing gaps by incorporating multiple perspectives from both parents and the child, as well as measuring the complex phenomenon of neglect multidimensionally. Furthermore, this measure addresses the need for an instrument specifically developed for late childhood (ages 10-12), as much of the extant evidence and corresponding measures focus on young children and their mothers. A panel of three psychologists, using Cicchetti’s model of child neglect as a theoretical guide, began by selecting items from an existing database. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and item response theory demonstrated the unidimensionality of physical, emotional, educational, and supervision neglect as well as a second-order construct of child neglect. Analyses controlling for risk status due to father’s substance use ...