Linking the Child Behavior Checklist to the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

• Published in: Psychological assessment 2022-03, Vol.34 (3), p.233-246
• Main Authors: Mansolf, Maxwell, Blackwell, Courtney K., Cummings, Peter, Choi, Seohyun, Cella, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Behavior; Behavior Problems; Behavioral psychology; Bias; Checklist; Child; Child Behavior; Child Behavior Checklist; Child Behavior Disorders - diagnosis; Child Behavior Disorders - psychology; Child development; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Developmental Measures; Emotional Disturbances; Externalization; Female; Human; Humans; Item Response Theory; Male; Problem Behavior; Reproducibility of Results; Score Equating; Surveys and Questionnaires; Test Bias; Test Scores
• ISSN: 1040-3590; 1939-134X; 1939-134X
• DOI: 10.1037/pas0001083

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) both measure emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents, and scores on the two instruments are highly correlated. When administrative needs compel practitioners to change the instrument used or data from the two measures are combined to perform pooled analyses, it becomes necessary to compare scores on the two instruments. To enable such comparisons, we score linked three domains (Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems) of the CBCL and SDQ in three age groups spanning 2-17 years. After assessing linking assumptions, we compared item response theory (IRT) and equipercentile linking methods to identify the most statistically justifiable link, ultimately selecting equipercentile linking with loglinear smoothing due to its minimal bias and the ability to link raw SDQ scores with both T-scores and raw scores from the CBCL. We derived crosswalk conversion tables to convert scores on one measure to the metric of the other and discuss the use of these tables in research and practice. Public Significance Statement We applied modern score-linking methodology to create score conversion tables for the Child Behavior Checklist and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, two commonly used measures of emotional and behavioral problems in children, allowing scores on each instrument to be converted to the metric of the other.