Abstract

The aim of this study was to see whether the prevalence of the behavioral and emotional problems of Korean youths has changed across the first and the second phases of the nation-wide standardization for the Korean-CBCL and -YSR. Instruments for the first- and second-phase were based on the original US 1991 and 2001 versions, respectively. Independent samples recruited respectively for the two phases of the standardization of the Korean-CBCL and -YSR were utilized. Measurement Equivalence tests supported that both CBCL and YSR measurement constructs have consistent meanings across the standardization phases. To compare CBCL and YSR scores of the two cohort groups, 600 cases (300 boys and 300 girls) between the ages of 12 and 17 years were randomly selected from each of the standardization samples. There was a significant decline in CBCL (parents report) while there was little change in YSR (self report) across the first and the second standardization phases. Pearson r correlation showed very high stability (rs>.90) in the rank ordering of item scores across the two phases. Implications of using CBCL and YSR as a clinical and research tool were discussed.