Psychometric Properties and Normative Information on the Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory with Ratings for Spanish Children from Parents and Teachers

Background: Psychometric properties and initial normative information are provided for the sluggish cognitive tempo, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder-inattention, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder, callousu-nemotional behavior (limited prosocial emotions specifier), anxiety, depression, social impairment, and academic impairment scales of the Spanish Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory. Method: Mothers, fathers, and teachers of 2,142 third to sixth grade Spanish children (49.49% girls; ages 8-13) from randomly selected schools on the Balearic Islands completed the Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory. Results: Scores from the scales demonstrated reliability (internal consistency and inter-rater), structural validity, and convergent/discriminant validity with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and learning disorder diagnoses for boys and girls separately for each source. Normative information (T-scores) is provided for the nine scales separately for boys and girls, with test information functions supporting use of the symptom scales for screening purposes. Conclusions: Although more comprehensive Spanish norms are still needed, the initial normative information on the scales should be useful to inform the clinical care of individual Spanish children, with the positive psychometric properties of the scores also supporting the use of the scale for research. Copies of the Spanish Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory and norms are available for free to clinicians and researchers.