Development and validation of the outburst monitoring scale for children and adolescents

The aim of this study was to develop a parent-completed questionnaire measure of specific types of aggressive behaviors in children and adolescents.

Two studies tested the psychometrics of the Outburst Monitoring Scale (OMS), a questionnaire measure of verbal, property, self, and physical aggression, based in part on the categories of the Overt Aggression Scale. In Study 1, parents of 23 adolescents with a history of aggressive-disruptive behavior and 30 control adolescents completed the OMS and other measures of aggressive-disruptive behavior. In Study 2, parents of 9 adolescents with a history of aggressive-disruptive behavior completed the OMS and other measures of aggressive-disruptive behavior during open-label treatment with methylphenidate and quetiapine.

Results from both studies demonstrated adequate internal consistency of OMS subscale and total scores. OMS scores correlated significantly with measures of conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder and differentiated between control and aggressive sub-samples. Changes in OMS scores during treatment correlated with changes in other measures of aggressive and disruptive behavior.

The OMS demonstrated good internal consistency, strong correlations with other measures of aggressive/disruptive behavior, good differential validity, and sensitivity to change during a medication trial. The OMS offers a quick, valid, questionnaire-based alternative for measuring frequencies of specific aggressive behaviors in clinical and research settings.