Assessing Emotional and Behavioural Problems with the Child Behaviour Checklist: Exploring the Relevance of Adjusting the Norms for the Flemish Community

The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) is one of the most frequently used dimensional instruments for screening behavioural and emotional problems in children. In this study the psychometric properties of the CBCL 2001-version and the usefulness of existing US norms within a Flemish community sample were explored. Mothers of young children (N = 170) and school-aged children and adolescents (N = 718) completed the CBCL and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Reliability of both the CBCL/1½-5 and CBCL/6-18 was excellent. There were substantial correlations between the SDQ and CBCL scales, indicating a good concurrent validity. Significant differences were found when comparing the mean CBCL raw scores of the different subsamples (for different ages and gender groups) with the US norms. Generally spoken, the mean CBCL raw scores as well as the clinical and borderline clinical cutpoints for Flemish children were mostly lower, specifically for the Total Problems score and the Externalising scales.