Table of Contents | Previous | Next |
INTERNALIZING/EXTERNALIZING BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS
NATIONAL SURVEY OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT WELL-BEING
Measure: Youth Behavior Checklist
Background
The Youth Behavior Checklist, developed by Achenbach (1991a, 1991b), is widely used to measure internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and problem behaviors more broadly. Two versions of the Youth Behavior Checklist are used in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), one for caregivers of children ages two to three and another for caregivers of children ages four to 18.
The NSCAW was funded and administered by the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The study has been conducted through collaboration between staff at the Research Triangle Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Caliber Associates, and the University of California at Berkeley.
Population Assessed
The respondent to the Youth Behavior Checklist were the current caregivers for children ages two to three and for children ages four to 18. Overall, the two NSCAW sample components are made up of 6,227 children; 5,501 of those children had contact with the child welfare system within the 15-month period beginning in October 1999. At the time of sampling, the children ranged in age from birth to 14 years old; infants, children who have been abused sexually, and children who are receiving services were oversampled.. The results of the survey can be generalized to the population that comes in contact with the child welfare system in the United States. The number of caregiver reports obtained with the Youth Behavior Checklist varied by child age, with 759 and 715 2- to 3-year-old children being assessed at Wave 1 and Wave 3, respectively. For the older children, Wave 1 data were collected for 3,839 children between the ages of 4 and 18, and for Wave 3 data were collected for 2,939 children.
The child protective services and long-term foster care sample components were fairly evenly distributed across the various child age categories from birth to age 14. At the time of the Wave 1 interview, just under 30 percent of the children fell under age 2. Another 21.6 percent fell between the ages of 2 and 5. Around 27 percent of the sample of children fell between the ages of 6 and 10. And 22 percent of the child sample fell between the ages of 11 and 14 at the time of the initial interview.
The racial and ethnic make-up of the combined child sample was diverse. American Indians made up 6.2 percent of the sample; Asian, Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islanders made up 2.4 percent of the sample; 35.7 percent of the sample was African American or Black; 49.6 percent of the sample was White. Across these racial groups, 17.3 percent were classified as being of Hispanic ethnic background. (See survey description for more information on the population.)
Periodicity
Data for the Youth Behavior Checklist were collected at Wave 1 between November 15, 1999, and April 30, 2001, and Wave 3, between April 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002. The Youth Behavior Checklist is also included in Wave 4 data collection, which should be complete by March 31, 2004.
Subscales/Components
The Total Problems Scale is made up of eight subscales (syndromes), including withdrawn, somatic complaints, anxiousness/depression, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, delinquent problems, aggressive behavior, and other problems. Internalizing problems contain somatic complaints, anxiousness/depression, and withdrawn syndromes. Externalizing problems contain aggressive behavior and delinquent syndromes.
Procedures for Administration
Separate measures were administered to parents or current caregivers of children ages of 2 to 3, versus those 4 to 18. A 100-item checklist was used for parents or current caregivers of the younger group, while the caregivers of children between the ages 4 to 18 received a 113-item checklist. (The Behavior Problem Index [BPI] was administered at Wave 2 in place of the checklist). Administration time varied greatly between the two waves of collection in which it was used, around 11 to 12 minutes for Wave 1 and 3 to 6 minutes for Wave 3.
Psychometrics/Data Quality
The psychometric information provided below is based on a sample of 368 predominantly White children ages 2 to 3 who were representative of different social classes; psychometric information is also available based on a racially mixed sample of 2,368 children ages 4 to 18 (Achenbach, 1991a, 1991b).
Inter-rater reliability was found to be very high (.96) based on an intraclass correlation coefficient.
Construct validity was found to be fairly good with problem subscales correlating from .59 to .88 with similar scales measuring problem behaviors (such as the Parent Questionnaire, ACQ Behavior Checklist, and the Quay-Peterson Revised Behavior Problem Checklist).
Cronbach’s alpha was .96 for the Total Problems scale.
Languages Available
The questionnaire modules were administered in English and Spanish.
Items Included
Items for the Youth Behavior Checklist are not provided due to copyright issues (Achenbach, 1991a, 1991b).
The BPI is administered at Wave 2 in place of the checklist. No further information about BPI items is provided in documentation readily available. However, a later options document for the Panel Study of Income Dynamics does contain documentation on the BPI.
References and Source Documents
Some of the references listed below were cited in source documents if they were not readily available.
Achenbach, T.M. (1991a). Manual for the child behavior checklist 2–3 and 1991 profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Achenbach, T. (1991b). Manual for the child behavior checklist 4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Achenbach, T.M. (1991c). Manual for the youth self-report and 1991 profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Asher, S., & Wheeler, V. (1985). Children’s loneliness: A comparison of rejected and neglected peer status. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(4), 500–505.
Briere, J. (1996). Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children: Professional Manual. Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
Dowd, K., Kinsey, S., Wheeless, S., Thissen, R., Richardson, J., Suresh, R., Mierzwa, F., Biemer, P., Johnson, I., and Lytle, T. (2003, September). National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being: Combined Waves 1–3 data file user’s manual. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect.
Dowd, K., Kinsey, S., Wheeless, S., Thissen, R., Richardson, J., Mierzwa, F., & Biemer, P. (2002, May). National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being: Wave 1 Data File User’s Manual. National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Gresham, F.M., & Elliott, S.N. (1990). Social Skills Rating System. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Kovacs, M. (1992). Children’s Depression Inventory. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-health Systems, Inc.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth and Families (2001, June). National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being: Local Child Welfare Agency Survey: Report. Washington, D.C. URL: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/nscaw/index.html.
| Table of Contents | Previous | Next |