A brief scale for measuring "behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar" in children.

The behavioral inhibition scale (BIS) is a brief rating scale for measuring behavioral inhibition in children. The present study examined the test-retest stability of the BIS in a sample of 7-12-year-olds consisting of inhibited and non-inhibited children (N = 83). Results demonstrated that the BIS scores were fairly stable over a 2-year period, with a test-retest correlation of .77. Further, the BIS scores of inhibited children significantly increased over the 2-year period, whereas those of the non-inhibited comparison group significantly decreased. Finally, the BIS was in a theoretically meaningful way associated with temperamental traits as measured by the Rothbart scales. Altogether, these results provide support for the reliability and validity of the BIS.