The Child Behaviour Checklist in a Melbourne Urban Sample

Abstract

Child Behaviour Checklist scores for 7‐, 12‐, and 15‐year‐olds from a two‐stage cluster sample of Melbourne schoolchildren were compared with U.S. 1991 norms and with children from Sydney. This study was prompted by a previous finding that Sydney parents rated children substantially higher on behaviour problems compared with U.S. norms. Response rates in Melbourne parents varied from 30–60% for the different age groups with 7‐year‐olds having the highest response rate. The Melbourne 7‐year‐olds' mean problem scores were not significantly different from the U.S. norms. The 12‐ and 15‐year‐olds' scores were slightly lower than U.S. norms. No significant differences were found for the total com..