Fifty years ago, L. J. Cronbach and P. E. Meehl (1955) advocated for the concept of construct validity, noting that psychologists study hypothetical, inferred entities and that validating measures of such entities involves basic theory testing. Three important developments in clinical assessment following that seminal article are noteworthy.…

Method effects as a source of construct invalidity were evaluated for parent, teacher, and child ratings of problem behaviors among 489 children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances. Multitrait multimethod analysis indicated large method effects for each rater. Such effects may be measurement artifact, situational differences, or…

Results of assessment with 34 children, 35 adolescents, and 40 undergraduates show that State of Mind (SOM) model ratios varied significantly depending on measurement method and self-versus-other condition, although age did not significantly influence SOM ratios, suggesting that the SOM model set point is applicable to children. (SLD)