Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and 1991 Profile

The Child Behavior Checklist for ages 4-18 is designed to record children's competencies and problems as reported by their parents or parent surrogates. It can be self-administered or administered by an interviewer. The 20 competence items obtain parents' reports of the amount and quality of their child's participation in sports, hobbies, games, activities, jobs and chores, and friendships; how well the child gets along with others and plays and works alone; and school functioning. Each of the 118 specific problem items and two open-ended problem items are scored on a 3-step response scale. The Checklist is intended as only one component of many, including teacher reports, standardized tests, physical assessment and direct assessment of the child. Reliability and validity are discussed.