Measuring the Home Environments of Children in Early Adolescence

This article describes the development of the Early Adolescent version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (EA-HOME) Inventory and presents information regarding its usefulness in 5 sociocultural groups (African Americans, Chinese Americans, European Americans, Mexican Americans, and Dominican Americans). EA-HOME is designed to measure the quantity and quality of stimulation, support, and structure available to children ages 10 through 15 in their home environments. Results indicate high interobserver agreement for those using the measure. EA-HOME scores were significantly related to scores on measures of family context and child development for each sociocultural group, but patterns of association varied somewhat across groups.