Note on truncated T scores in discrepancy studies with the Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self Report
Abstract
There is an extensive literature on discrepancies between adult informant ratings of symptom severity on the Child Behavior Checklist and ratings by children and adolescents on the Youth Self Report. This article presents an elaboration of a caveat against the use of T scores and for employing raw scores in statistical analyses related to such discrepancies. The T score transformation on these instruments is truncated resulting in reduced variability; this in turn may affect comparability of T scores with data based on the full range of variation. Children and adolescents (N = 236) responded to the items of the Youth Self Report while their adult caregivers completed the Child Behavior Checklist. Mean difference tests between youth and caregiver ratings as well as logistic regression, were done separately for raw scores and T scores; the results illustrated the importance of following the aforementioned caveat.References
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