Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI): A New Instrument for Epidemiological Studies and Pre-Clinical Evaluation

Abstract

Background:Some questionnaires have already been elaborated to collect information from parents of children and adolescents, both as preparation for clinical evaluation and for screening and epidemiological studies. Here a new questionnaire, the CABI, is proposed, and it is validated in a population of 8-10 year-old children. Compared to existing questionnaires, the CABI has been organized so as to be of medium length, with items concerning the most significant symptoms indicated by the DSM-IV-TR for the pertinent disorders, and covering a wider range than existing instruments. There is no charge for its use. Methods:The answers of the parents of 302 children in the last 3 years of primary school provided the normative data. A discriminant validation was done for internalizing and externalizing disorders and as a comparison with self-administered anxiety and depression scales. Exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency were also performed.Results:Distribution of scores on the main scales in the normal population shows positive skewness, with the most frequent score being zero. A highly discriminant capability was found in regard to the sample of children with internalizing and externalizing disorders, with high correlation with the self-administered anxiety and depression scales.Conclusion:The CABI appears to be capable, at least for 8-10 year-old children, of effectively discriminating those with pathological symptoms from those without. Compared with the widely- used CBCL, it has the advantages of a lower number of items, which should facilitate parental collaboration especially in epidemiological studies, and of being free of charge.

Predictive validity for the clinical diagnosis of a new parent questionnaire, the CABI, compared with CBCL

“…The CABI vs CBCL comparison occurred for groups of items belonging to the different subscales/scales, suggestive of the different diagnoses, as follows; the numbers of the items indicated below are as reported in the articles by Achenbach et al (2003) and Cianchetti et al (2013).…”

“…CABI. The complete CABI questionnaire and the illustration of its characteristics are reported with open access in Cianchetti et al (2013).…”

“…The CABI has the additional advantage of allowing the exploration of problems affecting areas not explored by the CBCL, such as OCD (items 12-15) and psychogenic eating disorders (anorexia items 65-67, bulimia item 64), item 11 phobias, insecurity 16-17, post-traumatic stress disorder 18, irritability 29-32, evaluation of reality 52-55, social relations 56-61, sphincter control 62-63, aspects related to sex 68-69, substance abuse 70-72, academic performance 73-74, and bullying 75 (Cianchetti et al, 2013). Therefore, the CABI covers an almost complete spectrum of behavioral problems, an understandable difference compared to the CBCL, a valiant pioneer of this type of instrument, built 20 years before CABI, when the nosography was still led by DSM-III-R. A modification of some items of the CABI is, however, opportune, particularly for the oppositional defiant and conduct problems.…”

“…The tool, called Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI), was initially standardized and made accessible for free use in 2013 (Cianchetti et al, 2013), and its larger standardization was published in 2017 (Cianchetti et al, 2017). The CABI, better described below, consists of 75 items, grouped in relation to the problem areas ("subscales") they explore; this allows an easy and atglance evaluation of the problems that are reported by parents and of the entity of them, without having to use a manual counting grid or a computer transcription, as required by CBCL.…”

Sociodemographic Characteristics, Behavioral Problems, Parental Concerns and Children’s Strengths Reported by Parents

“…There are different strategies to assess children's behavior problems and most of them are based on parent and teacher reports (Cianchetti et al, 2013;Lagattuta, Sayfan, & Bamford, 2012;Liu, Cheng, & Leung, 2011). Verbal parent-report questionnaires and surveys are essential to identify children's global emotional and behavior difficulties (American Psychiatric Association, 2014; Cianchetti et al, 2013;Rocha et al, 2013). There are important tools that describe difficulties and concerns about children and adolescents using standardized questions, such as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 2001).…”