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Objective: Although the significance of the general factor of psychopathology ( p) is being increasingly recognized, it remains unclear how to best operationalize and measure p . To test variations in the operationalizations of p and make practical recommendations for its assessment, we compared p -factor scores derived from four models., Methods: We compared p scores derived from principal axis (Model 1), hierarchical factor (Model 2), and bifactor (Model 3) analyses, plus a Total Problem score (sum of unit-weighted ratings of all problem items; Model 4) for parent- and self-rated youth psychopathology from 24 societies. Separately for each sample, we fitted the models to parent-ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 (CBCL/6-18) and self-ratings on the Youth Self-Report (YSR) for 25,643 11-18-year-olds. Separately for each sample, we computed correlations between p- scores obtained for each pair of models, cross-informant correlations between p -scores for each model, and Q -correlations between mean item x p -score correlations for each pair of models., Results: Results were similar for all models, as indicated by correlations of .973-.994 between p -scores for Models 1-4, plus similar cross-informant correlations between CBCL/6-18 and YSR Model 1-4 p -scores. Item x p correlations had similar rank orders between Models 1-4, as indicated by Q correlations of .957-.993., Conclusions: The similar results obtained for Models 1-4 argue for using the simplest model - the unit-weighted Total Problem score - to measure p for clinical and research assessment of youth psychopathology. Practical methods for measuring p may advance the field toward transdiagnostic patterns of problems.

We used population sample data from 25 societies to answer the following questions: (a) How consistently across societies do adolescents report more problems than their parents report about them? (b) Do levels of parent-adolescent agreement vary among societies for different kinds of problems? (c) How well do parents and adolescents in different societies agree on problem item ratings? (d) How much do parent-adolescent dyads within each society vary in agreement on item ratings? (e) How well do parent-adolescent dyads within each society agree on the adolescent's deviance status? We used five methods to test cross-informant agreement for ratings obtained from 27,861 adolescents ages 11 to 18 and their parents. Youth Self-Report (YSR) mean scores were significantly higher than Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) mean scores for all problem scales in almost all societies, but the magnitude of the YSR-CBCL discrepancy varied across societies. Cross-informant correlations for problem scale scores varied more across societies than across types of problems. Across societies, parents and adolescents tended to rate the same items as low, medium, or high, but within-dyad parent-adolescent item agreement varied widely in every society. In all societies, both parental noncorroboration of self-reported deviance and adolescent noncorroboration of parent-reported deviance were common. Results indicated many multicultural consistencies but also some important differences in parent-adolescent cross-informant agreement. Our findings provide valuable normative baselines against which to compare multicultural findings for clinical samples.

As a basis for theories of psychopathology, clinical psychology and related disciplines need sound taxonomies that are generalizable across diverse populations. To test the generalizability of a statistically derived 8-syndrome taxonomic model for youth psychopathology, confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were performed on the Youth Self-Report (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2001) completed by 30,243 youths 11-18 years old from 23 societies. The 8-syndrome taxonomic model met criteria for good fit to the data from each society. This was consistent with findings for the parent-completed Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and the teacher-completed Teacher's Report Form (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) from many societies. Separate CFAs by gender and age group supported the 8-syndrome model for boys and girls and for younger and older youths within individual societies. The findings provide initial support for the taxonomic generalizability of the 8-syndrome model across very diverse societies, both genders, and 2 age groups., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).)

There is a growing need for multicultural collaboration in child mental health services, training, and research. To facilitate such collaboration, this study tested the 8-syndrome structure of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in 30 societies. Parents' CBCL ratings of 58,051 6- to 18-year-olds were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses, which were conducted separately for each society. Societies represented Asia; Africa; Australia; the Caribbean; Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Europe; the Middle East; and North America. Fit indices strongly supported the correlated 8-syndrome structure in each of 30 societies. The results support use of the syndromes in diverse societies.

In this study, the authors compared ratings of behavioral and emotional problems and positive qualities on the Youth Self-Report (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2001) by adolescents in general population samples from 24 countries (N = 27,206). For problem scales, country effect sizes (ESs) ranged from 3% to 9%, whereas those for gender and age ranged from less than 1% to 2%. Scores were significantly higher for girls than for boys on Internalizing Problems and significantly higher for boys than for girls on Externalizing Problems. Bicountry correlations for mean problem item scores averaged .69. For Total Problems, 17 of 24 countries scored within one standard deviation of the overall mean of 35.3. In the 19 countries for which parent ratings were also available, the mean of 20.5 for parent ratings was far lower than the self-report mean of 34.0 in the same 19 countries (d = 2.5). Results indicate considerable consistency across 24 countries in adolescents' self-reported problems but less consistency for positive qualities., (Copyright 2007 APA, all rights reserved.)

Objective: This is a pilot-study in Iceland of parents' concerns about language development of their children. Little is known about the rate and the expression of such concerns and such data is important for developmental surveillance., Material and Methods: This study forms a part of a larger study of the mental health of Icelandic children aged 2-18 years with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Parents' concerns of language problems were studied with the CBCL in 444 children aged two to seven sampled on a national level in Iceland. These concerns were examined by indipendent speech and language therapists and categorized as speech or language concerns, and graded by their possible seriousness., Results: The CBCL picks up host of reasons for parents' concerns. According to the parents' completion of the CBCL about 13% of the sample were considered to have some language problems. The frequency of responses showing language problems was not related to the age of the children. The male-female ratio was 1.5:1. According to speech and language therapists' categorization of parents' concerns, parents described speech problems in majority of cases (72%) as opposed to language problems (18%). These specialists considered parents' concerns to reflect more serious complaints as the children grew older., Conclusions: The majority of parents' concerns were considered to reflect real problems according to specialists. There were indications that parents do not make a distinction between language and speech. This needs to be studied further in order to better inform parents on language development and its disorders, and to contribute to a better focused developmental surveillance.