Objective

There are few standardized neonatal neurobehavioral instruments available for longitudinal child development research. We adapted an established clinical tool, the Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system, for research by standardizing the administration protocol and expanding the 3-point coding scale to 5 points.

Methods

We administered the 5-point NBO to 144 racially/ethnically diverse late preterm or term infants born to low-income women (average age 5 weeks). Cronbach's alphas were calculated to determine internal consistency reliability of Autonomic, Motor, Organization of State, and Responsivity subscales. We examined concurrent validity using subscale associations with infant salivary cortisol reactivity to the NBO and maternally reported infant temperament.

Results

Two of the 4 NBO subscales, Organization of State and Responsivity, had excellent (0.91) and good (0.76) reliability, respectively, and were retained for further analyses. Infants with higher Organization of State scores (more optimal regulation) demonstrated lower cortisol reactivity (r = -0.30, p < 0.01) and temperamental negativity (r = -0.16, p < 0.05). Responsivity was unrelated to cortisol reactivity or temperament.

Conclusions

State regulation, as measured by the 5-point NBO, was associated with a biologic marker of infant stress response to the NBO administration and reported temperament. Poor reliability of the NBO's 3-item Autonomic and 7-item Motor subscales suggests that further psychometric research in other samples and likely refinement are needed. Given the paucity of neurobehavioral assessment tools for infants, these findings justify such research as next steps in the incremental progression toward the development of a practical, reliable, and predictive measure of early neurobehavioral development.