An adolescent symptom checklist for juvenile deliquents

A rating instrument was developed to assess the personality functioning of problem adolescents who have a brief history of official delinquency. Subjects were 186 residents at a short-term diagnostic detention facility. The instrument that emerged from a factor analysis was tested for reliability, validity, and cross-situational generality. Two major orthogonal factors emerged, Apathy-Withdrawal (I) and Anger-Defiance (II). Each factor was found to be congruent with the corresponding dimension on behavior rating instruments that had previously yielded two orthogonal factors and that had been shown to be relevant to a large number of psychological and educational issues. Significant correlations between the factors and a series of global ratings measuring behavior and measures indicative of the frequency and seriousness of official delinquency provided further evidence of construct and discriminant validity as well as evidence of cross-setting consistency of personality functioning.