ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a family of measures used in the evaluation of school-age children: the Personality Inventory for Children Second Edition (PIC-2), the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY), and the Student Behavior Survey (SBS). These three questionnaires have been constructed to meet the assessment needs of youth by measuring multiple dimensions of problem behavior; collecting observations from parents, teachers, and youth; and providing standard scores based on contemporary national samples.
Multidimensional objective assessment is both efficient and accurate. Important clinical phenomena are measured with the use of the same format and are evaluated with the same or similar standardization samples (in contrast to an assessment in which a customized selection of narrowband instruments that have different response characteristics and were standardized with different normative samples deliver results that are clinically integrated into a description of a specific child). Clinicians who use multidimensional assessment understand that the documentation of symptom or problem absence makes a diagnostic contribution comparable to the documentation of symptom or problem presence. They also recognize that a pattern of significant clinical problems is often characteristic of referred children. These problem constellations or patterns of diagnoses are designated “comorbid” and reflect the dynamics
