Child Behavior Scale – Teacher Rating

Abstract

The Child Behavior Scale (CBS), specifically the teacher rating version, is a comprehensive psychological scale designed to measure a range of social and emotional behaviors in young children. The instrument contains 59 items organized into several key subscales focusing on both maladaptive behaviors (considered risk behaviors) and positive social adjustment behaviors. The primary goal of the CBS is to provide educators and researchers with a standardized assessment tool to identify children exhibiting behaviors such as aggression, anxiety, hyperactivity, and social exclusion, alongside those demonstrating high levels of prosocial behavior.

Keywords

Child behavior assessment, teacher rating scale, early childhood assessment, aggression, antisocial behavior, hyperactivity, peer relations, prosocial behavior, anxious-fearful, developmental psychology.

Authors

Gary W. Ladd, Sheila M. Profilet

Purpose

The fundamental purpose of the Child Behavior Scale (CBS) is to systematically capture and quantify the frequency and intensity of specific behaviors exhibited by children aged 4 to 6 within the classroom or youth program setting. By utilizing teacher ratings, the scale provides an ecologically valid perspective on how a child functions socially and emotionally among peers and in structured environments.

The instrument is crucial for identifying children who may be at risk for later social or academic adjustment difficulties due to high levels of disruptive or withdrawn behaviors. Conversely, it also serves to identify children who display exceptional social competence, specifically through the measurement of prosocial behavior. This dual focus allows for targeted intervention planning and evaluation of early childhood programs.

Construct

The CBS is a multi-dimensional instrument measuring several distinct psychological constructs related to early childhood social adjustment and emotional regulation. These constructs are grouped into six primary subscales, with five scales focusing on potential risk behaviors and one scale focusing on positive adjustment. The inclusion of filler items ensures that teachers completing the scale are less able to decipher the specific constructs being measured, thereby reducing potential rater bias.

The core constructs assessed include:

• Aggressive with peers: Behaviors involving direct conflict and physical or verbal hostility toward classmates.
• Anti-social with peers: Withdrawn or solitary behaviors indicating detachment from the peer group.
• Hyper active-distractible: Measures of restlessness, poor concentration, and short attention span.
• Excluded by peers: Items reflecting the child’s relational status, specifically their rejection or avoidance by classmates.
• Anxious-fearful: Indicators of internalizing problems such as worry, tearfulness, and distress.
• Prosocial behavior: Positive social skills, including helping others, showing empathy, and cooperation.

Validity

While the source content does not provide specific coefficients for concurrent or predictive validity, the scale’s structure is grounded in established literature concerning early childhood maladjustment and social competence, as evidenced by its publication in Developmental Psychology. The distinct factor structure, separating aggressive/antisocial behaviors from anxious/fearful behaviors and contrasting these with prosocial behavior, supports the construct validity of the instrument.

The use of teacher ratings contributes to the ecological validity of the CBS, ensuring that the measured behaviors are salient in the child’s natural environment. The instrument has been widely utilized in research studies examining the long-term developmental outcomes associated with early peer relations and behavioral profiles.

Reliability

The Child Behavior Scale demonstrates strong internal consistency and acceptable levels of rater agreement, suggesting that the measures are stable and reliable indicators of child behavior. The reported Alpha reliability coefficients for the various subscales generally fall within a highly acceptable range for psychological instruments.

• Alpha reliabilities (Internal Consistency): These measures range from 0.86 to 0.90, indicating excellent internal reliability across the subscales.
• Inter-rater reliabilities: These scores were reported in the 0.81 to 0.88 range, suggesting high agreement between different teachers assessing the same child.
• Test-retest scores: Scores ranged from 0.54 to 0.83. While the lower end of this range suggests variability over time for certain constructs, the overall stability indicates that the scale captures enduring behavioral traits relevant to early childhood development.

Factor Analysis

The factor structure of the Child Behavior Scale (CBS) yields six distinct subscales, derived from the 59 total items. This structure reflects the theoretical separation of externalizing behaviors (aggression, hyperactivity), internalizing behaviors (anxious-fearful), and relational/social behaviors (antisocial, exclusion, prosocial).

It is important to note that only 35 of the 59 items are used for scoring within the six listed subscales. The remaining 24 items were intentionally included as filler items by the authors to prevent teachers from easily discerning the underlying psychological constructs, thus aiming to ensure more honest and unbiased ratings. The defined subscales and their constituent item numbers are as follows:

• Aggressive with peers: Items 4, 16, 23, 35, 36, 38, 48
• Anti social with peers: Items 25, 31, 32, 51, 55, 57
• Excluded by peers: Items 5, 27, 30, 33, 43, 45, 54
• Anxious-fearful: Items 6, 8, 12, 19
• Prosocial behavior: Items 26, 28, 34, 40, 46, 53, 56
• Hyper active-distractible: Items 1, 2, 11, 17

Instrument

Test Type: Behavioral assessment scale (Teacher Report)

Format: 59 items rated on a 3-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English (Original research context)

Population Group: Young children in educational settings.

Age Group: 4–6 years old (Grades Kindergarten and First Grade).

Population Details: Children typically enrolled in pre-school or early elementary education.

Test Methodology: Teachers rate the frequency with which the child exhibits each behavior. Scoring involves summing the scores on the subscale items and dividing by the number of items in that subscale to create an average score. Higher average scores indicate a greater presence of the measured behavior.

Keywords

Child Behavior Scale, CBS-TR, teacher assessment, peer rejection, social competence, internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, reliability, psychometrics.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: The scale is reported as not requiring specific permission for use.

Fee: Not specified, but generally available for research and clinical use without charge based on the permission statement.

Test Year: 1996 (Year of primary publication detailing the scale development).

Reference’s

Ladd, G. W., & Profilet, S. M. (1996). The child behavior scale: a teacher-report measure of young children’s aggressive, withdrawn & prosocial behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 32, (6), 1008-1024.

The instrument can also be found on pages 129-131 of Assessing Outcomes in Child and Youth Programs: A Practical Handbook, available online at: http://fyi.uwex.edu/topic/youth/. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://4h.uwex.edu/evaluation/documents/ChildYouthOutcomeHandbook2005.pdf

Items of the Child Behavior Scale- teacher rating

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Restless. Runs about or jumps up and down. Doesn’t keep still

2. Squirmy, fidgety child.

3. Destroys own or others property.

4. Fights with other children.

5. Not much liked by other children.

6. Is worried. Worries about many things.

7. Irritable; quick to “fly off the handle.”

8. Appears miserable, unhappy, tearful, or distressed.

9. Has twitches, mannerisms, or tics of the face and body.

10. Is disobedient.

11. Has poor concentration or short attention span.

12. Tends to be fearful or afraid of new things or new situations.

13. Fussy or over-particular.

14. Tells lies.

15. Has speech difficulty.

16. Bullies other children.

17. Inattentive.

18. Doesn’t share toys.

19. Cries easily.

20. Blames others.

21. Gives up easily. 1 2

22. Inconsiderate of others.

23. Kicks, bites, or hits other children.

24. Stares into space.

25. Prefers to play alone.

26. Helps other children.

27. Peers refuse to let this child play with them.

28. Shows a recognition of the feelings of others; is empathetic.

29. Tends to react to other children’s distress by teasing them or making things worse.

30. Not chosen as a playmate by peers.

31. Likes to be alone.

32. Keeps peers at a distance.

33. Peers avoid this child.

34. Seems concerned when other children are distressed.

35. Aggressive child.

36. Taunts and teases other children.

37. Often unoccupied.

38. Threatens other children.

39. Takes turns with play materials.

40. Kind toward peers.

41. Can be trusted, is dependable.

42. Listens to classmates.

43. Excluded from peers’ activities.

44. Compromises in conflict with peers.

45. Is ignored by peers.

46. Cooperative with peers.

47. Loses temper easily in conflict with others.

48. Argues with peers.

49. Friendly toward other children.

50. Annoys or irritates other children.

51. Solitary child.

52. Disrupts peers’ activities.

53. Shows concern for moral issues (e.g. fairness, welfare of others).

54. Ridiculed by peers.

55. Avoids peers.

56. Offers help or comfort when other children are upset.

57. Withdraws from peer activities.

58. Will continue to bother or hurt other children even when they are clearly upset.

59. Bossy toward peers.