Ecocultural assessment in families of children with developmental delays: construct and concurrent validities.

Home interviews were conducted with 102 families of children with developmental delays to assess ecocultural family resources and constraints, values, and goals as well as proactive adaptive efforts to deal with their circumstances. Interview topics included (a) economic factors; (b) child safety, health, and education; (c) domestic and childcare workloads; (d) familial support networks; and (e) sociocultural influences. Factor analyses performed on the ecocultural measures revealed 12 salient factors. Results indicated that some of the ecocultural factors were unique and statistically independent of the traditional measures of home environment (e.g., child-rearing attitudes, cognitive stimulation of the child, and general psychosocial climate). Significant relations were found between certain ecocultural factors and child's developmental status. Both ecocultural factors and traditional family measures accounted for significant variation in child outcomes.