Reliability of the Child Behavior Checklist for the assessment of behavioral problems of children and youth with mild mental retardation.
The CBCL loses reliability for youth with mild ID—use it with caution and add other measures.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested the Child Behavior Checklist on the kids with mild intellectual disability.
They asked parents and teachers to fill out the same forms twice, two weeks apart.
Then they checked how well the answers matched up between people and over time.
What they found
The checklist did not hold up well. Item agreement was poor to moderate, ranging from a large share to a large share.
Syndrome scores were better but still shaky, with reliability between a large share and a large share.
These numbers fall short of the a large share standard most BCBAs want for treatment decisions.
How this fits with other research
Kildahl et al. (2025) found the Aberrant Behavior Checklist works better for autistic youth with ID. Their four subscales stayed stable over time, unlike the CBCL's weak scores here.
Bachman et al. (1988) showed the PIMRA holds up for adults with ID, giving us a working alternative for older clients.
Matson et al. (2004) gave us solid norms for the PAS-ADD Checklist in adults, again pointing to tools that do not break down in ID samples.
Together these papers suggest the CBCL's problems are specific to this instrument, not to assessing behavior in people with ID.
Why it matters
If you use the CBCL for youth with mild ID, expect shaky data. Pair it with direct observation or try the ABC or PAS-ADD instead. Better measures mean clearer baselines and more confident treatment choices.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The assessment of psychopathology in persons with mental retardation requires reliable and valid instruments. In the present study, the reliability of the Child Behavior Checklist was determined, using data of 42 children and youth with mild mental retardation, with ages from 10 to 18 years. Kappa coefficients and intra-class correlations were computed to determine the reliability at item level and syndrome level. At item level, mean kappa's for inter-rater and test-retest reliability were 0.267 and 0.52, respectively. At syndrome level, mean intra-class correlations for inter-rater and test-retest reliability were 0.493 and 0.775, respectively. These results suggest that the Child Behavior Checklist may not always represent a reliable checklist for the assessment of psychopathology among children and youth with mild mental retardation.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2000 · doi:10.1016/s0891-4222(99)00028-1