Chapter 12 - Assessment with Brief Behavior Rating Scales

Abstract

Behavior rating scales are an essential part of the psychoeducational assessment of children and adolescents. These measures are categorized by their bandwidth, or the number of constructs or syndromes they purport to measure. The broad-band scales measure multiple syndromes or behavioral domains (for example, internalizing and externalizing), and narrow-band scales contain items focused upon one or two behavioral domains. This chapter focuses on narrow-band rating scales completed by children and the adults who have contact with them. These instruments offer several advantages to practitioners. These instruments allows one to acquire the detailed information concerning child emotions and behaviors of interest across several informants and settings, making them useful sources of diagnostic information. These instruments are also cost effective in that they are easily administered and scored. The chapter reviews and compares three measures that have been designed to measure symptoms of child externalizing behavior: the ADHD-IV, the ADHD Symptom Checklist–4, and the Short Forms of the Conners' Revised Parent and Teacher Rating Scales. The other measures of internalizing symptoms are: the Child Depression Inventory (CDI), the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS), and the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS).