Assessing anxiety with the Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher Report Form☆
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Assessing anxiety with the Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher Report Form
Anxiety disorders are common in children and adolescents1 (Kashani and Orvaschel, 1988, Kashani and Orvaschel, 1990) and often lead to considerable impairment (Ialongo, Edelsohn, Werthamer-Larsson, Crockett, & Kellam, 1995; LaGreca & Lopez, 1998; Strauss, Lahey, Frick, Frame, & Hynd, 1988). In a community study, approximately 2.4% of youth ages 9–16 met criteria for at least one anxiety disorder (Costello, Mustillo, Erkanli, Keeler, & Angold, 2003). If left
Participants
The initial sample used to assess the CBCL-A comprised 157 AD participants and 100 NAD community participants. Youth's ages ranged from 9 to 13. AD participants met DSM-III criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) for a principal diagnosis of overanxious disorder (OAD)/generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), separation anxiety disorder (SAD), or avoidant disorder/social phobia according to a semi-structured clinical interview (Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children: ADIS-C/P;
Group Comparability
In the initial sample, chi square tests revealed a significant difference between the AD and the NAD groups for race, χ2 (1, n = 257) = 8.63, p < .005, but not for gender. In the TRF sample, χ2-test revealed nonsignificant differences between the AD and the NAD groups for race and for gender. In the cross-validation sample, χ2-test revealed nonsignificant differences between the AD and the NAD groups for race, gender, and total household income. T tests revealed a significant difference between AD
Discussion
Assessment of anxiety in youth requires a multi-method, multi-informant approach, drawing information from interviews, youth self-reports, parent and teacher reports, and behavioral observations. The CBCL and TRF are important components of this multi-method approach as they provide useful discrimination between broadband externalizing and internalizing disorders. The present study presents initial evidence for the utility of a CBCL-A and TRF-A derived specifically to assess anxiety disorders
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This research was supported by NIMH grant MH60653 awarded to Philip C. Kendall.