Application of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) to Children, Adolescents, and their Parents

The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) comprises a family of assessment instruments for ages IV2 to 90+ years. The instruments are designed to assess a broad spectrum of problems and adaptive functioning, as reported by the people who are being assessed and by people who know them (“collaterals”), as well as by clinical inter­viewers, direct observers, and psychological examiners. Data are obtained on standardized rating forms that can be filled out in about 10 to 20 minutes. The forms include both struc­tured items that are scored quantitatively and open-ended items that elicit clinically useful information in the respondent’s own words. If a respondent cannot complete a form inde­pendently, the items can be read to the respondent by a receptionist or other nonclinician, who then writes the responses on the form.Each form is tailored to the ages of the people being assessed and to the types of infor­mants who complete the forms. The forms are scored on profiles of scales that enable users to compare the individual being assessed with scores obtained by normative samples of peers. Although this book focuses mainly on children and adolescents, the present chapter includes assessment of parents, because their problems and adaptive characteristics are often closely intertwined with those of their offspring. Clinical assessment of children and adolescents should therefore include assessment of their parents whenever possible. By having parents complete the ASEBA adult forms, clinicians can compare problems reported for parents with those reported for their children. The ASEBA adult forms can also be used to assess “iden­tified patients” who have reached their 18th birthday and may be appropriate for assessing “emancipated minors” who are younger than 18 but live away from parent figures.ASEBA forms and profiles are designed to help clinicians make direct comparisons between the problems reported for children by multiple informants, including parents, teach­ers, and the children themselves. Parallel self-and collateral-report forms for adults also 327

enable clinicians to compare parents’ views of themselves with how they are viewed by spouses, partners, and other informants. The typical levels of agreement between most com­binations of informants are modest, as shown by meta-analyses of cross-informant correla­tions between reports of both child and adult psychopathology (Achenbach, Krukowski, Dumenci, & Ivanova, 2005; Achenbach, McConaughy, & Howell, 1987; Duhig, Renk, Epstein, & Phares, 2000; Renk & Phares, 2004). This means that no single source of data, including self-reports, is likely to provide a gold standard for assessment. It also means that each informant may add clinically valuable information, both at initial assessments and at subsequent assessments to evaluate the progress and outcome of treatments. Table 19.1 lists ASEBA forms for ages 1 xh to 59 years and indicates who completes each form. As referenced in Table 19.1, the manuals for the forms provide extensive reliability, validity, and norma­tive data, as well as clinical and research applications.