Reliability and validity of the Child Behavior Checklist Obsessive-Compulsive Scale.

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Psychometric Validation
• Behavioral Assessment

Background:

• The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (OCS) requires psychometric evaluation for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) assessment.
• Existing measures may lack specificity or reliability in clinical child populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the psychometric properties of the 8-item Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (OCS) from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
• To develop and validate a revised OCS (OCS-R) for improved assessment of pediatric OCD.

Main Methods:

• Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the 8-item OCS using data from youth with OCD, internalizing disorders, and externalizing disorders.
• Internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the revised 6-item OCS-R were assessed.
• Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to suggest cutoff scores.

Main Results:

• Confirmatory factor analysis of the original OCS showed inadequate fit.
• Exploratory factor analysis yielded a reliable 6-item, 1-factor model (OCS-R) with adequate internal consistency.
• The OCS-R demonstrated convergent validity and stronger associations with OCD symptoms than depression or externalizing behaviors.
• Youth with OCD exhibited significantly higher OCS-R scores compared to other diagnostic groups.

Conclusions:

• The revised 6-item Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (OCS-R) is a reliable and valid measure for assessing pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• The OCS-R demonstrates good psychometric properties, distinguishing OCD from other internalizing and externalizing disorders in youth.
• The findings support the use of the OCS-R as a valuable tool in the clinical assessment of childhood OCD.