Predictive validity for the clinical diagnosis of a new parent questionnaire, the CABI, compared with CBCL
Open accessAbstract
Background: The questionnaires completed by the parents give a first general information on the behavioral problems of the child–adolescent, as a useful orientation to the clinical evaluation. The Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI) is a 75-item parent questionnaire, which explores a large number of problem areas. The study of its predictive validity for the clinical diagnosis, in comparison with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM)-oriented scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), can assess whether its use may be advantageous. Material and Methods: Parents/caregivers of 462 children and adolescents responded to both CABI and CBCL as a preliminary routine investigation. The results were compared with those of diagnoses obtained after the completion of the usual clinical procedure. Results: Accuracy values (probability of correct classification) resulted high for both instruments and significantly better for CABI anxiety and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) scales, and for CBCL oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) scales; no significant difference was found for depression scales. All the areas under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic analysis reached excellent values, suggesting a very good predictive ability of the five scales of the two instruments. The comparison of AUC showed the CABI’s anxiety and ADHD scales to give significantly higher values than those of CBCL, indicating that these two scales have a better predictive ability. Conclusion: The study indicates a very good comparative (vs CBCL) and predictive validity of the CABI, suggesting an advantage in the use of this shorter questionnaire, available for free use both for clinical practice and supposedly for screening and epidemiological evaluations.
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Studies have demonstrated an acceptable correspondence between the CBCL DSM-oriented scales and DSM diagnoses.
“Studies have demonstrated an acceptable correspondence between the DSM-oriented scales and DSM diagnoses [33–40].”
From Screen time and mental health: a prospective analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (2024) · cites this paper as [34]
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“To assess behavior problems, we used the Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI), which was designed by Cianchetti et al. (2017, 2020), as a dimensional screening questionnaire for mental disorders and problematic behaviors in children and adolescents.”
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“12,30 However, our AUC scores, ranging from 0.61 to 0.70, were lower than previously reported CBCL AUC values, 45,46 implying that the concordance of CBCL T scores and DSM-5 diagnoses is even poorer in the present study population.”
Influential
- Authors
- Cianchetti, C., Faedda, N., Pasculli, M., Ledda, M. G., Diaz, G., Peschechera, A., Craig, F., Morelli, F., Balottin, U., Guidetti, V., Zuddas, A., & Margari, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Cagliari (IT)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- Azienda Ospedaliera G. Brotzu (IT)
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
- University of Pavia (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Cianchetti, Carlo
- ORCID
- Venue
- Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-01-02
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 507-519
- ISSN
- 1359-1045 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7021
- OpenAlex
- W2997509572
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 1.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- ccp.sagepub.com
- Locations
- Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UNICA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (University of Cagliari) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Archive of Doctoral Theses and Digital Collections (University of Calabria) (submittedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion)
- CINECA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (University of Bari Aldo Moro) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- Child Behavior Checklist, predictive validity, parent questionnaires, child and adolescent behavioral problems, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, depression, diagnosis, screening
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Anxiety, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Child, Child Behavior Disorders, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Predictive Value of Tests, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Conduct Disorder, Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Checklist
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