Research Findings: This article describes the development and evaluation of the Behavior and Emotion Expression Observation System (BEEOS), a direct observation tool to characterize preschoolers' social and emotion behaviors during semistructured activities in the classroom. The BEEOS was used to observe 148 Head Start preschoolers, and…

Objective: The study examined the concordance among rating sources on attention problems of elementary school-aged children. Method: A randomly selected sample ("N" = 841) of children was rated by the physical educators, the teachers, and the parents, using the Attention Scales of the Motor Behavior Checklist (MBC), the Teacher Report…

The Youth Self Report (YSR) is a widely used measure of youth emotional and behavioral problems. Although the YSR was designed for youths ages 11 to 18, no studies have systematically evaluated whether youths younger than age 11 can make valid reports on this measure. This study thus examined the reliability and validity of the YSR scales scores…

Studies on the distinction between Autistic Disorder (AD) and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) have been inconclusive. This study examined the validity of PDD-NOS by comparing it to AD and other developmental disorders (DD) on parent-reported behavior problems. Fifty-four children with PDD-NOS were individually…

This report describes the development and psychometric properties of the Children's Florida Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (C-FOCI). Designed specifically as a brief measure for assessing obsessive-compulsive symptoms, the C-FOCI was created for use in both clinical and community settings. Study 1 included 82 children and adolescents diagnosed…

This study examined the convergent validity of the parent and teacher versions of the Early Childhood Behavior Problem Screening Scale (ECBPSS) with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF), respectively. Data were collected on a sample of preschool and kindergarten students (n = 149) from two medium-sized…

Behavior checklists are often utilized to screen for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) when comprehensive evaluations are unfeasible. The usefulness of two behavioral checklists, the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS) and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), in identifying ASDs was investigated among 109 children with Autism, 32 children with ASD, and…

Objective: To determine the extent to which the Youth Self-Report (YSR) can be used to assess emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Method: In 2003, 281 11- to 18-year-olds with IDs (IQ greater than or equal to 48) completed the YSR in an interview, and in 1993, 1,047 non-ID adolescents completed…

Achenbach's Child Behavioral Check List (CBCL) is an instrument that is administered to the parents of many thousands of children and adolescent annually in school systems and mental health agencies. It is a standardized instrument with age norms for males and females, on which parents rate their child's behavior. The CBCL consists of nine…

This study investigated the utility of several scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) when diagnosing anxiety disorders in youth. Participants were the mothers and fathers of 130 children (ages 7 to 14; M = 9.61 years, SD = 1.74; 69 boys, 61 girls) who were evaluated at a specialty mental health clinic (100 were referred for treatment; 30…

Examines the predictive power of child interview for differentiating matched sample of children with emotional and behavior disorders (EBD) or learning disabilities (LD), and nonreferred children. The Semistructured Clinical Interview for Children and Adolescents (SCICA) was administered. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and…

This study examined the validity of using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) Thought Problem sub-scale with urban low-income children (N=46) referred to a hospital-based mental health clinic. It was hypothesized that cultural, linguistic, or socio-economic status (SES) factors may influence the manner in which parents understand and respond to…

In this article, the authors report the psychometric properties of a parent-completed rating scale based on the criteria for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition-Text Revision" ("DSM-IV-TR"). Mothers of 294 boys and 48 girls with…

Validity and parent-child agreement of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children-Parent Report (SPAI-C-P) were examined in a racially diverse sample of 158 students in Grades 5 through 8 (87 girls; ages 10 to 14; M = 11.53) and their caregivers. Children completed the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C), and…

Objective: To compare the predictive validity of the clinical-diagnostic and the empirical-quantitative approach to assessment of childhood psychopathology, and to investigate the usefulness of combining both approaches. Method: A referred sample (N = 96), aged 6 to 12 years at initial assessment, was followed up across--on average--a period of…