Measures of Child Emotional and Behavioral Strengths and Family Functioning: A Preliminary Report on the Reliability and Validity of their Spanish Translations
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online September, 2004
Measures of Child Emotional and Behavioral Strengths and Family Functioning: A Preliminary Report on the Reliability and Validity of their Spanish Translations
There is a documented need for reliable and valid Spanish-translated child mental health assessment tools. Although the psychometric properties of some of the more commonly used Spanish translations have been demonstrated, many instruments that were developed, tested, and normed in English are being Spanish-translated and used without further psychometric investigation. The current study found preliminary support for the internal consistency and convergent validity of the Spanish-translated Family Assessment Device and Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale using data from the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Service for Children and Their Families Program. A discussion of these findings as they relate to the psychometric properties of the English versions is included. Finally, next steps for more in-depth psychometric analyses are outlined.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.
2.
Barkley, R. (1988). Child behavior rating scales and checklists. In M. Rutter, A. H. Tuma, & I. S. Lann (Eds.), Assessment and diagnosis in child psychopathology. New York: Guilford Press.
3.
Brannan, A. M., Heflinger, C. A., & Bickman L. (1998). The Caregiver Strain Questionnaire: Measuring the impact on the family of living with a child with serious emotional disturbance. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 5(4), 212-222.
4.
Byles, J., C. Byrne, C., Boyle, M. H., & Offord, D. R. (1988). Ontario Child Health Study: Reliability and validity of the General Functioning Subscale of the McMaster Family Assessment Device. Family Process, 27, 97-104.
5.
Center for Mental Health Services. (1999). Annual report to Congress on the Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program. Atlanta, GA: ORC Macro.
6.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
7.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrica, 16(3), 297-334.
8.
Epstein, M. (1999). The development and validation of a scale to assess the emotional and behavioral strengths of children and adolescents. Remedial and Special Education, 20(5), 253-262.
9.
Epstein, M., Harniss, M., Pearson, N., & Ryser, G. (1999). The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale: Test-retest and inter-rater reliability. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 8(3), 319-327.
10.
Epstein, M. H., Hertzog, M. A., & Reid, R. (2001). The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale: Long-term test-retest reliability. Behavioral Disorders, 26(4), 314-320.
11.
Epstein, M., Nordness, P., Nelson, J., & Hertzog, M. (2002). Convergent validity of the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale with primary grade-level students. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 22(2), 114-121.
12.
Epstein, M., Ryser, G., & Pearson, N. (2002). Standardization of the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale: Factor structure, reliability, and criterion validity. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 29(2), 208-216.
13.
Epstein, M., & Sharma, J. (1998). Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale: A strengths-based approach to assessment. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
14.
Epstein, N. B., Baldwin, L. M., & Bishop, D. S. (1983) The McMaster Family Assessment Device. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9, 1771-1780.
15.
Fisher C. B., Hoagwood, K., Boyce, C., Duster, T., Frank, D. A., Grisso, T., Levine, R. J., Macklin, R., Spencer, M. B., Takanishi, R., Trimble, J. E., & Zayas, L. H. (2002). Research ethics for mental health science involving ethnic minority children and youths. American Psychologist, 57(12), 1024-1040.
16.
Flores, G., Fuentes-Afflick, E., Barbot, O., Carter-Pokras, O., Claudio, L., Lara, M., Mclaurin, J. A., Pachter, L., Ramos Gomez, F., Mendoza, F., Valdez, R. B., Vilarruel, A. M., Zambrana, R. E., Greensberg, R., & Weitzman, M. (2002). The Health of Latino children: Urgent priorities, unanswered questions, and a research agenda. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288(1), 82-90.
17.
Foster, E. M., Saunders, R. C., & Summerfelt, W. T. (1996). Predicting level of care in mental health services under a continuum of care. Evaluation and Program Planning, 19(2), 143-153.
18.
Fristad, M. A. (1989). A comparison of the McMaster and Circumplex Family Assessment instruments. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 15(3), 259-269.
19.
Glover, S. H., Pumariega, A. J., Holzer, C. E., Wise, B. K., & Rodriguez, M. (1990). Anxiety symptomatology in Mexican American adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 8, 47-57.
20.
Gonzales, N. A., Pitts, S. C., Hill, N. E., & Roosa, M. W. (2000). A mediational model of the impact of interparental conflict on child adjustment in a multi-ethnic, low-income sample. Journal of Family Psychology, 14(3), 365-379.
21.
Gorman-Smith, D., Tolan, P. H., Henry, D. B., & Florsheim, P. (2000). Patterns of family functioning and adolescent out-comes among urban African American and Mexican American families. Journal of Family Psychology, 14(3), 436-457.
22.
Harniss, M., Epstein, M., Ryser, G., & Pearson, N. (1999). The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale: Convergent validity. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 1 7(1), 4-14.
23.
Heflinger, C. A., Northrup, D. A., Sonnichsen, S. E., & Brannan, A. M. (1998). Including a family focus in research on community-based services for children with serious emotional disturbance: Experiences from the Fort Bragg Evaluation Project. In M. H. Epstein, K. Kutash, & A. Duchnowski (Eds.), Outcomes for children and youth with behavioral and emotional disorders and their families: Programs and evaluation best practices. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
24.
Hodges, K. (2000). Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale. Ypsilanti, MI: Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University.
25.
Hodges, K., Doucette-Gates, A., & Kim, C. (2000). Predicting service utilization with the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale in a sample of youth with serious emotional disturbance served by Center for Mental Health Service-funded demonstrations. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 27(1), 47-59.
26.
Hodges, K., Doucette-Gates, A., & Liao, Q. (2000). The relationship between the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) and indicators of functioning. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 8(1), 109-122.
27.
Hodges, K., & Wong, M. (1996). Psychometric characteristics of a multidimensional measure to assess impairment: The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 5(4), 445-467.
28.
Holden, E., Friedman, R., & Santiago, R. (2001). Overview of the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 9(1), 4-12.
29.
Hovey, J. (2000). Acculturative stress, depression, and suicidal ideation in Mexican immigrants. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 6(2), 134-151.
30.
Hovey, J. D., & King, C. A. (1996). Acculturative stress, depression, and suicidal ideation among immigrant and second-generation Latino adolescents. Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(9), 1183-1192.
31.
Kabacoff, R. I., Miller, I. W., Bishop, D. S., Epstein, N. B., & Keitner, G. I. (1990) A psychometric study of the McMaster Family Assessment Device in psychiatric, medical and nonclinical samples. Journal of Family Psychology, 3(4), 431-439.
32.
Lambert, E. W., Brannan, A. M., Heflinger, C. A., Breda, C., & Bickman, L. (1998). Common patterns of service use in children's mental health. Evaluation and Program Planning, 21, 47-57.
33.
Lindahl, K. M. (1998). Family process variables and children's disruptive behavior problems. Journal of Family Psychology, 12(3), 420-436.
34.
McConaughy, S. H. (1993). Advances in empirically based assessment of children's behavioral and emotional problems. School Psychology Review, 22(2), 285-307.
35.
Miller, I. W., Epstein, N. B., Bishop, D. S., & Keitner, G. I. (1985). The McMaster Family Assessment Device: Reliability and validity. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 11(4), 345-356.
36.
Oswald, D., Cohen, R., Best, A., Jenson, C., & Lyons, J. (2001). Child strengths and the level of care for children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Journal of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders, 9(3), 192-199.
37.
Perosa, L. M., & Perosa, S .L. (1990). Convergent and discriminant validity for family self-report measures. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 50, 855-868.
38.
Ramirez, R. R., & De la Cruz, G. P. (2002) The Hispanic population in the United States: March 2002, Current Population reports, P20-545, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington DC. Retrieved from the Web on 10/20/03 from http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-545.pdf.
39.
Reid, R., Epstein, M. H., Pastor, D. A., & Ryser, G. R. (2000). Strengths-based assessment differences across students with LD and EBD. Remedial and Special Education21(6), 346-355.
40.
Roberts, R. E., & Chen, Y. (1995). Depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among Mexican-origin and Anglo adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 81-90.
41.
Rubio-Stipec, M., Bird, H., Canino, G., & Gould, M. (1990). The internal consistency and concurrent validity of a Spanish translation of the Child Behavior Checklist. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 18(4), 393-406.
42.
Sin, H. B., & Bruno, R. (2003). Language use and English-speaking ability. Census 2000 Brief; October 2003.
43.
Spencer, G., & Hollmann, F. W. (1998). National population projections. In U.S. Census, Population of the United States: 1997 (Series P23-194, pp. 9-9). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
44.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity-A supplemental to Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services, Office of the Surgeon General.
45.
Vazsonyi, A .T., & Flannery, D. (1997). Early adolescent delinquent behaviors: Associations with family and school domains. Journal of Early Adolescence, 17, 271-293.
46.
Walrath, C., & Liao, Q. (in press) The clinical and psychosocial characteristics of children with serious emotional disturbance entering system-of-care services. In M. H. Epstein, K. Kutash, & A. J. Duchnowski (Eds.), Outcomes for children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders and their families: Programs and evaluation best practices. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
47.
Walrath, C. M., Mandell, D. S., Holden, E. W., & Santiago, R. L. (2004). Assessing the strengths of children referred for community-based mental health services. Mental Health Services Research6(1), 1-8.
