Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI): Standardization for age 6-17 years and first clinical application

Background: The Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI) is a questionnaire designed to collect information from the parents of children and adolescents, both for the preparation of screening and epidemiological studies and for clinical evaluation. It has been published in CPEMH in 2013, with the first data on 8-10 years old school children. Here we report an extended standardization on a school population 6-17 years old and the first results of the application in a clinical sample. Methods: Parents, after giving their informed consent, answered to the questionnaire. Complete and reliable data were obtained from the parents of 659 school children and adolescents 6-17 y.o., with a balanced distribution of gender. Moreover, in a population of 84 patients, the results with the CABI were compared with the clinical evaluation and the CBCL. Results: In the school population, scores were different in relation to gender and age. The values of externalizing disorders were higher in males, with the highest values for ADHD in the 6-10 y.o. children. On the contrary, the scores of internalizing disorders and of eating disorders tended to be slightly higher in females. In the clinical population, scores at the CABI were in agreement with the clinical evaluation in 84% cases for depressive symptoms (compared to CBCL 66%), 53% for anxiety symptoms (CBCL 42%) and 87% for ODD (CBCL 69%), differences, however; without statistical significance (chi square). Conclusion: The study obtained normative data for the CABI and gave information of the behavioral differences in relation to age and gender of the school population as evaluated by parents/caregivers. Clinically, the CABI provided useful information for the clinical evaluation of the patient, sometimes with better agreement with the final diagnosis compared to the CBCL.