Psychometric Testing of Behavior Assessment for Children

Purpose The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Behavior Assessment for Children (BAC) in a community of school-aged children in Taiwan. Method A school-based sample comprising third grade and fourth grade students was recruited from Taichung City in Taiwan. The parents (n = 248) and teachers (n = 15) of these students completed structured questionnaires, including the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the proposed BAC. Content validity, concurrent validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and inter-rater reliability of the BAC were assessed. Results The BAC comprised three subscales (attention, emotion, and self-control) that included 17 items. The content validity index (CVI) score was 0.98. The result of the confirmatory factor analysis (goodness of fit =.90, root mean square of residual =.03, root mean square error of approximation =.06, and comparative fit index =.94) supported the construct validity of the three BAC subscales. The concurrent validity of the BAC subscales significantly correlated with the compatible CBCL subscales (r =.59-.78, p <.001). Cronbach α of the subscales of the BAC ranged from.78 to.92. The intraclass correlation coefficient between the parents and teachers ranged from.31 to.44, and the joint probability of agreement ranged from 31.4% to 92.2%. Conclusions The BAC is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating behavioral problems in school-aged children.