Depression is a latent characteristic that is measured through self-reported or clinician-mediated instruments such as scales and inventories. The precision of depression estimates largely depends on the validity of the items used and on the truthfulness of people responding to these items. The existing methodology in instrumentation based on a…

Objective: This study examines the validity of the ASRS-5 as a new screening tool for ADHD and evaluates its proposed screening cut-off in a general population context. Method: A nationally representative sample of 2,002 individuals aged 18 to 80 years was surveyed using the ASRS-5, with complete data obtained from 714 participants. Psychometric…

Successful early mathematical development is vital to children's later education, employment, and wellbeing outcomes. However, established measurement tools are infrequently used to (i) assess children's mathematical skills and (ii) identify children with or at-risk of mathematical learning difficulties. In response, this pre-registered systematic…

The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale screener is commonly used to determine if further evaluation of ADHD is required. However, despite use in college settings, the ASRS was not developed for this population, and limited relevant psychometric data exist. In this study, 190 college students completed the ASRS screener as well as a lengthier measure of…

The State of Washington requires school districts to file court petitions on students with excessive unexcused absences. The "Washington Assessment of Risks and Needs of Students" (WARNS), a self-report screening instrument developed for use by high school and juvenile court personnel in such situations, purports to measure six facets of…

Background: Sleep reduction, resulting from insufficient or poor sleep, is a common phenomenon in adolescents. Due to its severe negative psychological and behavioral daytime consequences, it is important to have a short reliable and valid measure to assess symptoms of sleep reduction. Objective: This study aims to validate the Sleep Reduction…

Modern attempts to explain why some assessment tools are readily adopted by school-based personnel whereas others are not have focused on the concept of usability. Usability encompasses not only the degree to which consumers find an assessment tool to be acceptable, but also the degree to which it is well-understood, believed to be feasible,…

For children age birth to five, physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional growth and development occur at a rapid pace. While all children in this age range may not reach developmental milestones (e.g., smiling, saying first words, taking first steps) at the same time, development that does not happen within an expected timeframe can…

The "Screening Test for Emotional Problems-Self-Report" (STEP-S) was designed to assess students aged 10 to 17 years referred for wide-ranging emotional disturbances categorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Preliminary analysis indicated that subscale coefficients alpha ranged from 0.76 to 0.85 and…

Traits associated with autism and social anxiety were assessed in a UK student population (n = 1325) using the Autism-spectrum Quotient and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. Clinically relevant levels of autistic traits were observed in 3.3% of the cohort; 10.1% of the cohort reported clinically relevant levels of social anxiety; 1.8% of the…

In this article, the authors clarify the role of the leadership team, providing a rationale for one integrated team to examine academic, social, and behavioral programming, with careful attention to including all key stakeholders. Next, the authors discuss the procedures for teaching all key stakeholders the comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered…

The Institute of Medicine recommends school-based body mass index (BMI) screening as an obesity prevention strategy. While school nurses have provided height/weight screening for years, little has been published describing measurement reliability or process. This study evaluated the reliability of height/weight measures collected by school nurses…

The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 (SASSI-3; Miller & Lazowski, 1999) is a popular screening instrument used to assist professionals in the assessment of individuals who may be substance dependent. Many researchers have reported reliability and validity results on this instrument with mixed results, which at times have…

Early identification of social-emotional behavioral problems in infants and preschoolers is critical. Nine parent-report and caregiver/teacher-report instruments measuring preschool social-emotional behavioral problems and strengths are reviewed. Advantages to the use of parent-report and caregiver/teacher-report instruments are that they are easy…

The Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB) is a newborn neurobehavioral assessment appropriate for preterm, at risk, and full-term newborns, from birth to 1 month after expected due date. The APIB is based in ethological--evolutionary thought and focuses on the assessment of mutually interacting behavioral subsystems in simultaneous…