Psychometric Testing of Behavior Assessment for Children

Summary Purpose The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Behavior Assessment for Children (BAC) in a community of school-aged children in Taiwan. Method A school-based sample comprising third grade and fourth grade students was recruited from Taichung City in Taiwan. The parents ( n  = 248) and teachers ( n  = 15) of these students completed structured questionnaires, including the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the proposed BAC. Content validity, concurrent validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and inter-rater reliability of the BAC were assessed. Results The BAC comprised three subscales (attention, emotion, and self-control) that included 17 items. The content validity index (CVI) score was 0.98. The result of the confirmatory factor analysis (goodness of fit = .90, root mean square of residual = .03, root mean square error of approximation = .06, and comparative fit index = .94) supported the construct validity of the three BAC subscales. The concurrent validity of the BAC subscales significantly correlated with the compatible CBCL subscales ( r  = .59–.78, p Conclusions The BAC is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating behavioral problems in school-aged children.