Reliability of the Child Behavior Checklist for the assessment of behavioral problems of children and youth with mild mental retardation

The assessment of psychopathology in persons with mental retardation requires reliable and valid instruments. In the present study, the reliability of the Child Behavior Checklist was determined, using data of 42 children and youth with mild mental retardation, with ages from 10 to 18 years. Kappa coefficients and intra-class correlations were computed to determine the reliability at item level and syndrome level. At item level, mean kappa’s for inter-rater and test-retest reliability were 0.267 and 0.52, respectively. At syndrome level, mean intra-class correlations for inter-rater and test-retest reliability were 0.493 and 0.775, respectively. These results suggest that the Child Behavior Checklist may not always represent a reliable checklist for the assessment of psychopathology among children and youth with mild mental retardation