An Assessment of the Utility of the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 for Social Work Practice

The objective of this article was to analyze the structure of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which is often used to measure children’s emotional and behavioral problems. Considering its potential uses in social work, we logically deduced the optimal format for each use. Confirma-tory factor analysis of the CBCL problem scales was the method conducted. Three alternative models were also proposed and tested. Data analyzed were parent responses from two clinical samples consisting of 542 children ages 3 to 18 years old living in Oregon or North Carolina. The CBCL author’s eight-correlated-factor model was confirmed. The data also fit the three alterna-tive models to varying degrees. Conclusions reached were that the original model was judged most useful for diagnosis; the one-, two-, and three-factor models all were useful for screening; and individual items were most useful for treatment planning and outcome assessment. Using only the original internalizing and externalizing scores is not recommended. Managed-care approaches being implemented in mental/behavioral health, child welfare, and other treatment arenas bring an inherent necessity for rapid assessment and treatment planning, and social workers in these fields are increasingly joining the ranks of professionals who use standardized mea-sures in practice. Although a variety of measures exist to assist in problem identification, goal specification, and outcome measurement (for