Rating scales are increasingly popular in research and clinical studies of children. The Stress Response Scale was developed to test whether a child's behavior rating scale could be constructed based on a theoretical model of personality and if it could be validated by empirical means in order to obtain clinically useful factor scores. The scale was based on a model of personality functioning based on clinical experiences of the common response patterns adapted by children in coping with stress. A series of factor analytic studies done with previous versions of the scale yielded five factors labeled impulsive, passive-aggressive, dependent, repressed (withdrawn), and repressed (anxious) which were consonant with the predicted categories of the model. The results of these studies suggest that empirical evidence exists to support the conceptual model upon which the Stress Response Scale is based and that, while results are preliminary, further development is warranted so that the Scale may be used in future in clinical, community, and school settings. (PAS)