The Adolescent Behavior Checklist: normative data and sensitivity and specificity of a screening tool for diagnosable psychiatric disorders in adolescents with mental retardation and other development disabilities.

The team built an 86-item teen self-report form called the Adolescent Behavior Checklist.

They tested 107 teens with mild intellectual disability. Each teen filled out the form.

Staff also gave each teen a full psychiatric exam. The results acted as the true diagnosis.

The checklist caught real disorders a large share of the time and ruled out healthy teens a large share of the time.

Test-retest scores stayed steady after two weeks. Internal consistency was 0.92.

In plain words, the tool is reliable and flags most kids who need help.

Hastings et al. (2001) and Oliver et al. (2002) later showed the Developmental Behavior Checklist also works well. Their factor studies back up the same idea: parents can spot problems with checklists.

Balboni et al. (2014) did the same math for the DABS, an adaptive scale. All three papers show strong sensitivity and specificity in the ID group, giving you more than one solid option.

Hirota et al. (2018) reviewed ASD screeners for teens but did not include this checklist. That gap does not break the findings; it just means more replication is needed for autism samples.

You now have a quick teen form that takes ten minutes and needs no clinical gear. Use it at intake to decide who needs a full psych eval. Pair it with parent checklists like the DBC for a fuller picture. Early flagging means faster treatment and fewer crisis calls later.