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Reliability and validity of the direct observation form of the child behavior checklist

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Abstract

This article reports reliability and validity data for the Direct Observation Form (DOF) of the Child Behavior Checklist. Observational data were collected on two samples of boys aged 6–11 in classroom settings. Interobserver agreement was high: r=.92 for behavior problem score and r =.83 for on-task score. Generalizability, as measured by the one-way intraclass correlation, was .86 and .71 for behavior problem score and on-task score, respectively. In terms of validity, DOF scores correlated significantly and in the expected directions with teacher-reported problem behavior, school performance, and adaptive functioning. In addition, boys who had been referred by their teachers due to problem behavior obtained significantly higher behavior problem scores and significantly lower on-task scores than a matched sample of normal boys observed in the same classrooms.

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Reference note

  1. Edelbrock, C., & Achenbach, T. M. The teacher version of the Child Behavior Profile: I. Boys aged 6–11. Submitted for publication, 1983.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA

    Michael L. Reed & Craig Edelbrock

Authors
  1. Michael L. Reed
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  2. Craig Edelbrock
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Additional information

A portion of this research was included in a dissertation submitted by the first author to the Graduate School of Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Ph.D. degree. This research was supported in part by the Eric Englund Scholarship to the first author, by an NIMH Research Scientist Development Award (MH00403) to the second author, and by NIMH grant number MH37372. The generous support of the William T. Grant Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are indebted to the Ralston Public Schools and Corvallis Public Schools for their cooperation and to Dr. Alan Sugawara for his help in this research. The authors wish to thank Dr. Thomas Achenbach for his advice regarding this research and his comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Reed, M.L., Edelbrock, C. Reliability and validity of the direct observation form of the child behavior checklist. J Abnorm Child Psychol 11, 521–530 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00917081

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00917081

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