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The study was designed (a) to provide prevalence data on behavioral problems and competencies, (b) to identify differences related to demographic variables, and (c) to compare clinically referred and demographically similar nonreferred children. Data were obtained with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), consisting of 20 social competence items and 118 behavior problems. Parents of 1,300 referred children completed the CBCL at intake into outpatient mental health services, while parents of 1,300 randomly selected nonreferred children completed the CBCL in a home interview survey. Intraclass correlations were in the .90s for interparent agreement, 1-week test-retest reliability, and inter-interviewer reliability. Indices of the reported prevalence of each item are graphically portrayed for children grouped by age, gender, and clinical status. Multiple regressions and ANCOVAs showed minimal racial differences but significant tendencies for lower SES children to have higher behavior problem and lower competence scores than upper SES children. There were numerous gender differences on specific items but no significant gender difference in total behavior problem or competence score. Age showed more and larger differences than the other demographic variables, but these differences were dwarfed by differences related to referral status. Across all demographic groups, referal status accounted for more variance in total behavior problem and social competence scores than in the scores for any single item. However, some behavior problems that have traditionally received little attention were much more strongly associated with referral status than problems that have received much attention. Cutoff points on the distributions of total behavior problem and social competence scores yield good separation between referred and nonreferred samples.

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Empirically derived syndromes of child behavior problems are reviewed, and those having counterparts in two or more studies are identified. A distinction between broad-band and narrow-band syndromes seems warranted because many syndromes derived from first-order factor analyses can be subsumed by a few second-order factors. Broad-band Undercontrolled and Overcontrolled syndromes and narrow-band Aggressive, Delinquent, Hyperactive, Schizoid, Anxious, Depressed, Somatic, and Withdrawn syndromes were found in diverse samples of disturbed children. Two other broad-band and six other narrow-band syndromes were found in a few studies. Test-retest reliabilities and stabilities of syndrome scores were more adequate than interrater reliabilities, which increased with the degree of similarity between the types of raters and between the types of situations in which they saw subjects. Cross-instrument and cross-population consistencies corroborated some empirically derived syndromes, but the lack of independent criteria for categorizing disturbed children makes it difficult to establish criterion-referenced validity. Because categorization of children by syndromes has been limited primarily to the broad-band undercontrolled-overcontrolled dichotomy, more efforts are needed to translate syndromes into categories for use by practitioners as well as researchers. It is concluded that further work in this area is likely to benefit disturbed children only if it is more systematically linked to the existing mental health system and to efforts at reforming this system.The study of psychopathology in children and Statistical Manual (DSM) were Adjusthas long lacked a coherent taxonomic frame-ment Reaction and Childhood Schizophrenia, work within which training, treatment, epi-Adult categories of the DSM could be apdemiology, and research could be integrated, plied to children, but a national survey Not only were children's disorders omitted showed that 70% of the children seen in from the system that originally formed the psychiatric clinics were either unclassified or basis for psychiatric taxonomy (Kraepelin, were classified as having adjustment reactions 1883) but, even until 1968, the only cate- (Rosen, Bahn, & Kramer, 1964). gories provided for children in the American Although there were a few early efforts to Psychiatric Association's (1952) Diagnostic develop differentiated taxonomies of childhood disorders (e.g., Jenkins & Glickman, 1946), it was not until the 1960s that theThe authors wish to thank Sue Fleisher for her need for SUch a S y Stem WaS aCUtelv fdt ; many contributions to this work; Howard Moss and Efforts to meet this need took a variety of Sally Ryan for performing reliability checks on forms. Following the psychiatric tradition of the categorization of syndromes; and Roger Slash-formulating classifications through consensual field, Gale Inoff, Lovick Miller, and John Weisz . , , ,-, , ., ._, "__" for critically reading the manuscript. committee work, the Group for the Advance-Requests for reprints should be sen...