The need for a self-report instrument that assesses internalizing problems in children ages 8 through 12 is evidenced in the lack of such an instrument, and in the prevalence of internalizing problems in children. A new self-report instrument, the Internalizing Symptoms Scale for Children (ISSC), has been proposed and developed to fit this need. The present study evaluated the criterion-related validity, clinical cutoff points, and discriminating power of the ISSC. Two groups of child subjects, clinic-referred and general-school-population, were recruited and administered the ISSC, and a parent of each subject completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Each case within the clinic-referred group was then classified as an Internalizer or non-Internalizer based on the CBCL Internalizing T-score. The CBCL was identified as the criterion because of empirical methods used in creating the factor structure, extensive clinical use, psychometric properties, cross-informant design, and large research representation.
Results of the evaluations indicated the ISSC to have moderate, yet adequate evidence of criterion-related validity, an optimum clinical cutoff point of 70 (raw score), and strong discriminating power. These results give support for the clinical use of the ISSC as a screening instrument, and for potential use in diagnosis and treatment planning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-6398 |
| Date | 01 May 1997 |
| Creators | McClun, Lisa Ann |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. |
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