Comparison of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition, and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition

The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (Vineland-II), and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III) were administered to 65 children between the ages of 12 and 42 months referred for developmental delays. Standard scores and age equivalents were compared across instruments. Analyses showed no statistical difference between Vineland-II ABC standard scores and cognitive levels obtained from the Bayley-III. However, Vineland-II Communication and Motor domain standard scores were significantly higher than corresponding scores on the Bayley-III. In addition, age equivalent scores were significantly higher on the Vineland-II for the fine motor subdomain. Implications for early intervention are discussed.     

Concurrent validity of the motor domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales

The concurrent validity of the motor domain from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales was estimated using scores from the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales as criteria. A moderately high correlation between the measures was obtained. Implications, particularly for preschool children, were discussed.     

Correlations for the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales with Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test in a forensic sample

People with an intellectual disability are over-represented in the criminal justice system in many western countries. Identifying accused persons with intellectual disability is important if they are to receive protections available under the law. Accurate diagnosis is also relevant for correctional administrators, probation and parole services, and community services. Diagnosis of intellectual disability must be made on the basis of both cognitive skills (intelligence) and adaptive behavior. In this study, the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test assessed intelligence, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales assessed adaptive behavior, through self-report. Tests were administered to 150 offenders, ranging in age from 13 to 53 years, in Australian prisons, juvenile detention centers, legal aid offices, and probation services. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients calculated among all subtests and between total scores were significant. ROC curve analyses demonstrated that performance on each effectively predicted a standard score of less than 70 on the other one.     

A Comparison of Adaptive Behavior Ratings: Revised Vineland and AAMD ABS-SE

Although the assessment of adaptive behavior is a mandated component of many school assessments, concerns have been raised about the measurement of the construct and related professional practices. Estimates of adaptive behavior have been shown sometimes to vary by instruments and raters and therefore may influence placement decisions in unknown ways. This study examined the agreement among teachers and parents on the revised Vineland and the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale-School Edition for a sample of developmentally handicapped children. A sample of learning disabled children was also included in order to explore the effects of a restricted range on the correlations. Also, the potential effects of estimates of adaptive behavior on placement decisions were analyzed. The results suggest that serious discrepancies could occur that would directly affect placement decisions.     

Comparability of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale--survey form with infants evaluated for developmental delay.

The Vineland Social Maturity Scale and its revision, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-Survey Form, were evaluated with infants referred for suspected developmental delay. Since the latter is being used more often by psychologists in evaluation and placement of children in the age group of birth to two years, comparative studies must ensure appropriate placement of children observed to have developmental delays. The present study indicated significantly higher over-all adaptive functioning on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-Survey Form for 33 black and 11 white infants of mean age 12 mo. than on the original Vineland scales. Substituting the Survey Form for the original Vineland scales when evaluating developmentally delayed infants is questionable. These results are also noteworthy in that children whose Vineland Social Maturity scaled scores make them eligible for special services would be excluded if the revised form were used in the evaluation process.     

A Systematic Review and Psychometric Evaluation of Adaptive Behavior Scales and Recommendations for Practice

Adaptive behavior scales are vital in assessing children and adolescents who experience a range of disabling conditions in school settings. This article presents the results of an evaluation of the design characteristics, norming, scale characteristics, reliability and validity evidence, and bias identification studies supporting 14 norm-referenced, informant-based interviews and rating scales designed to measure adaptive behaviors. To derive these results, the manuals for each of these scales were reviewed using a standardized coding procedure, and information about each scale was double-coded by reviewers. Findings reveal that several evidence-based adaptive behavior scales are available to school psychologists. Concluding recommendations address selection and use of adaptive behavior scales as part of a comprehensive assessment, using the optimal methods of administration of adaptive behavior scales, and interpreting resultant scores that have demonstrated the highest levels of reliability and the largest body of validity evidence.     

Factor analysis of the WISC-R and the Adaptive Behavior Scale-School Edition for a referral sample

The purpose of this study was to determine if a common factor structure was evident in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Adaptive Behavior Scale-School Edition (ABS-SE) for a sample of 171 children referred for evaluation of learning and behavior problems. The WISC-R subtests (excluding Mazes) and the ABS-SE factor domain scores (Personal Self-Sufficiency, Community Self-Sufficiency, Personal-Social Responsibility, Social Adjustment, and Personal Adjustment) were subjected to an exploratory principal-components factor analysis with varimax rotation. ANOVAs were conducted on each of the derived factors to determine race and sex effects. The results indicated no common factor structure in the instruments, the Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Independent Functioning, Maladaptive Behavior, and Freedom From Distractibility factors being extracted. The derived factors were very similar to those identified in standardization data and other studies. Perceptual Organization and Social Adjustment showed sex and race effects, respectively, although each model accounted for only about 7% of the variance.     

Adaptive and Aggressive Assertiveness Scales (AAA-S)

Diminished assertiveness has been associated with neuroticism, depression, and anxiety. Although many assertiveness instruments have been developed for research and clinical purposes, one common shortcoming is a lack of discriminant validity with regard to aggression. Further, the wording of many instruments is outdated and discriminatory. The goal of the present research was to develop a more sensitive instrument measuring two distinguishable forms of assertiveness: adaptive assertiveness and aggressive assertiveness. We present data validating such a measure, the Adaptive and Aggressive Assertiveness Scales (AAA-S). Participants included two samples of college students and a clinical sample of adults with anxiety disorders. The AAA-S demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The aggressive assertiveness scale was associated with various forms of aggression and peer reports of aggressive assertiveness. The adaptive assertiveness scale was associated with competence and peer reports of adaptive assertiveness. Importantly, there were no gender differences in adaptive assertiveness. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Concurrent Validity of the Child Behavior Checklist DSM-Oriented Scales: Correspondence with DSM Diagnoses and Comparison to Syndrome Scales

This study used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methodology and discriminative analyses to examine the correspondence of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) rationally-derived DSM-oriented scales and empirically-derived syndrome scales with clinical diagnoses in a clinic-referred sample of children and adolescents (N = 476). Although results demonstrated that the CBCL Anxiety, Affective, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity, Oppositional and Conduct Problems DSM-oriented scales corresponded significantly with related clinical diagnoses derived from parent-based structured interviews, these DSM-oriented scales did not evidence significantly greater correspondence with clinical diagnoses than the syndrome scales in all cases but one. The DSM-oriented Anxiety Problems scale was the only scale that evidenced significantly greater correspondence with diagnoses above its syndrome scale counterpart —the Anxious/Depressed scale. The recently developed and rationally-derived DSM-oriented scales thus generally do not add incremental clinical utility above that already afforded by the syndrome scales with respect to corresponding with diagnoses. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Imitation of High-Interest Comic Strip Models' Appropriate Classroom Behavior:

Animated cartoons depicting aggressive behavior have been used widely in the investigation of reinforced and generalized imitation in the laboratory. Little research has examined the use of either animated or comic strip cartoons in the teaching and encouragement or desirable skills and activities in real-life settings. The present study employed comic strip drawings of high-interest cartoon models to symbolize and teach skills contributing to the social and educational development of children in a child care center. The results demonstrate that high-interest cartoon models are both effective and feasible agents for positive behavioral change when used within the generalized imitation framework. In addition, four alternative explanations of generalized imitation were tested: the failure to discriminate explanation, the variable-ratio schedule explanation, the demand characteristics explanation and the reinforcement value of stimulus similarity explanation. The findings contradicted the first three and offered evidence in support of the fourth.     

Sentence Completion Responses and Classroom Social Behavior

To develop a scoring scale to differentiate “behaving” from “misbehaving” children, sentence completion responses of 96 children whose classroom behavior was socially approved were compared with responses of 96 children whose behavior was disapproved because they were aggressive and disruptive. Applied to a cross-validation sample of 96 approved and 96 disapproved children, it was found that scoring reliability was satisfactory, that the total scale score could be used to discriminate between these groups, and that inspection of individual protocols might yield valuable insights concerning a child's personal problems.     

External Validity of the New Devereux Adolescent Behavior Rating Scales

The discriminant and concurrent validity of the five new scales for the Devereux Adolescent Behavior Rating Scale (DAB) was explored using a heterogeneous sample of psychiatric and substance abuse patients. Consistent with predictions, the substance abuse patients scored higher on the Acting Out Behaviors (AOB) and Heterosexual Interests (HI) scales, and psychiatric patients scored higher on the Psychotic Behaviors scale. Gender differences also were found, including boys being rated higher on Acting Out Behaviors, and girls higher on Heterosexual Interests. The new DAB scales demonstrated sufficient concurrent validity using a thorough record review and a parent rating scale (the Child Behavior Checklist [CBCL]). The Neurotic/Dependent Behaviors scale (NDB) showed a consistent relationship with substance abuse and several other measures of more externalizing behaviors, in addition to the predicted relationships with anxious, tense, and dependent behaviors. The Withdrawn/Timid Behaviors scale (WTB) proved to be a purer measure of internalizing behaviors in both sexes.     

A Psychometric Analysis of the Child Behavior Checklist DSM-Oriented Scales

The Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6–18 (CBCL/6-18) possesses newly developed DSM-Oriented Scales, constructed through expert clinical judgment to match selected categories for behavioral/emotional problems as described in the DSM-IV. The present investigation examined the basic psychometric properties for all six DSM-Oriented Scales (i.e., Affective, Anxiety, Somatic, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity, Oppositional, and Conduct Scales) in a large clinical sample of children and adolescents (N = 673). Findings from the present study provide strong evidence for the reliability, as well as convergent and discriminative validity, of these scales. It appears that the DSM-Oriented Scales may provide accurate supplementary information that may be considered when formulating clinical diagnoses.

Studying the Dynamics of Problem Behavior Across Multiple Time Scales: Prospects and Challenges

As a commentary on the Special Issue, this paper discusses recent advances in the study of change across several time scales. It points out the importance of specifying time scales and putative patterns of change when characterizing problem behavior over developmental time scales. Methods for studying risk and protective mechanisms through observation of social interaction are also discussed as a way to study influences that operate in real time. Methods for studying episode-level interaction patterns that result from such real-time influences are also discussed, along with ways to integrate these with longitudinal assessments to study the effects of social interaction on problem behavior across developmental time scales.     

班级生态系统对儿童亲社会行为影响的研究述评

依据生态系统观以及班级环境中亲社会行为研究的进展,在班级环境中,与儿童人际互动最密切,对其亲社会行为具有重要影响的两类人群是——同伴和教师。作者把儿童与同伴、儿童与教师之间的互动关系作为班级环境中两个重要生态子系统,依次介绍了班级环境中这两个生态子系统的各成分,以及它们对儿童亲社会行为的影响。文章最后指出,该领域的研究应注重人际间的双向互动、基于观察的互动模式研究、以及重视时间变量对行为过程的影响