The Neglect Scale.

The Neglect Scale was designed as a measure of neglect of children's basic needs by caretakers. It measures neglect of physical, emotional, supervisory, and cognitive needs. The version of the Neglect Scale described in this report can be used in interview or questionnaire format with adolescents to describe their current situations or with adults to describe neglect when they were growing up. Preliminary psychometric data based on a college student sample (340 to 359 students) is presented for the full 20-item scale, including the 4 subscales, and for 8-item and 4-item short forms. These preliminary data indicate that the Neglect Scale has a high level of internal consistency reliability. Evidence is also presented in support of construct validity. Limitations of the Neglect Scale are discussed, and modifications that enable the scale to be used with a variety of populations are described. An attachment presents the scale. (SLD)