Clinical Assessment of Child and Adolescent Personality and ...

158 chapter 7 Parent and Teacher Rating Scaleschild’s behavior across time and situations. Furthermore,parent involvement is required in theevaluation of most children, and parents’ viewsof their children’s behavior are often crucial indetermining what will be done about the behavior.Parents’ reports should therefore be obtainedin the assessment of children’s competencies andproblems whenever possible (p. 3).Table 7.5 Sample Content of CBCL(6–18-Year-Old Version) Syndrome ScalesAnxious/Depressed: Cries a lot, is fearful,feels too guilty, talks of suicideWithdrawn/Depressed: Would rather bealone, shy/timid, sadSomatic Complaints: Feels dizzy, constipated,has headaches, nauseaSocial Problems: Dependent, lonely, getsteased, prefers to be with younger kidsThought Problems: Cannot get mind off ofcertain thoughts, sees things, stores things,strange behaviorAttention Problems: Cannot concentrate,daydreams, impulsive, cannott sit stillRule-breaking Behavior: Drinks alcohol,lacks guilt, breaks rules, sets fires, prefers to bewith older kidsAggressive Behavior: Argues a lot, destroysothers’ things, gets in fights, mood changes,attacks peopleFrom Achenbach & Rescorla (2001).ContentThe CBCL includes 100 items for thepreschool version and 113 items for theschool age version. Responses are made ona three-point scale (i.e., Not True; Sometimes/SomewhatTrue; Very True/OftenTrue).The CBCL syndrome scales are primarilyempirically derived, with substantialuse of factor-analytic methods. TheCBCL scales were also derived separatelyby gender and age group (see Achenbach &Rescorla, 2000, 2001). Throughout the testdevelopment process, the CBCL developersalso emphasized the derivation of scalesthat were common across raters (e.g., parentsand teachers). The CBCL parent andteacher scales have closely matched itemsand scales that make it easier for cliniciansto make cross-informant comparisons.Sample item content from the CBCL scalesis shown in Table 7.5.The item content for the preschool(ages 1½–5) version of the CBCL is notablydifferent from the version for 6–18-yearolds, with somewhat different syndromescales. The syndrome scales for the 1½–5-year-old version are Emotionally Reactive,Anxious/Depressed, Somatic Complaints,Withdrawn, Sleep Problems, AttentionProblems, and Aggressive Behavior(Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000).On both versions, there is a Total Problemsscore (the most global score availableon the CBCL) as well as composites forInternalizing Problems and ExternalizingProblems (see Achenbach & Rescorla,2000, 2001). The CBCL also includes competencescales (except for the preschoolversion) that are designed to discriminatesignificantly between children referred formental health services and non-referredchildren (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001).DSM-Oriented scales were formedbased on experts’ ratings (see Achenbach,Dumenci, & Rescorla, 2001) of how wellthe items fit DSM criteria for relevant disordersor groups of disorders (e.g., MajorDepression and Dysthymia for the AffectiveProblems scale). For the school-ageversion of the CBCL, the DSM-Orientedscales are Affective Problems, Anxiety Problems,Somatic Problems, Attention/HyperactivityProblems, Oppositional DefiantProblems, Conduct Problems. The fiveDSM-oriented scales on the preschool versionof the CBCL are Affective Problems,Anxiety Problems, Pervasive DevelopmentalProblems, Attention Deficit/HyperactivityProblems, and Oppositional DefiantProblems. The DSM-Oriented scales are anew feature to the Achenbach system and