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CAB

Clinical Assessment of Behavior

Bruce A. Bracken, PhD, and Lori K. Keith, PhD

Purpose:
Assesses adjustment, psychosocial strengths and weaknesses, and problem behaviors in ages 2-18 years (parent ratings) and 5-18 years (teacher ratings)
Format:
Paper and pencil, Online administration and scoring via PARiConnect, Download, E-Manual
Age range:
2 years to 18 years
Time:
Standard Form: 10–15 minutes; Extended Form: 30 minutes
Qualification level:
B
B
A degree from an accredited 4-year college or university in psychology, counseling, speech-language pathology, or a closely related field plus satisfactory completion of coursework in test interpretation, psychometrics and measurement theory, educational statistics, or a closely related area; or license or certification from an agency that requires appropriate training and experience in the ethical and competent use of psychological tests. Close

The CAB is an objective, comprehensive, and highly reliable behavior rating scale that is closely aligned with current diagnostic criteria found in the DSM-IV-TR and IDEA.

Features and benefits

  • Assists in the identification of children and adolescents across a wide age range who are in need of behavioral, educational, or psychiatric treatment or intervention.
  • Assesses behaviors that reflect current societal concerns and issues about youth and their behavior (e.g., bullying, aggression, executive function, gifted and talented).
  • A balanced theoretical framework of both competence-based qualities and problem-based concerns makes the CAB useful for evaluating adaptive strengths and clinical risks.
  • IDEA requires that emotional disturbance, an educationally related disorder, be differentiated from social maladjustment; two CAB scales, Emotional Disturbance and Social Maladjustment, can be used to help differentiate these conditions. The Professional Manual addresses these scales with a case example, discussion of interpretation, and, to further differentiate ED and SM, discrepancy score tables for each of the CAB forms.

Test structure

  • Three separate rating forms (Parent Extended [CAB-PX], Parent, and Teacher) contain corresponding items, allowing parents and teachers to contribute equally to the evaluation of target behaviors.
  • Requires an eighth-grade reading level for completion.
  • Included with the introductory kit, the CAB-SP calculates raw scores, T scores, and percentiles for all scales and clusters after hand-entry of item responses. The software generates unlimited complete Score Reports and profiles for all CAB forms.

Technical information

  • Normative data include 2,114 parent ratings and 1,689 teacher ratings.
  • Scale and cluster internal consistency necessary coefficients are .88 and higher across the three CAB forms.
  • Test-retest reliability coefficients across the three CAB forms ranged from .77 to .95.
  • Scales and clusters on all CAB forms demonstrate good evidence of validity based on test content; factor analytic studies; convergent and discriminant evidence; and concurrent validity studies across various clinical groups, including conduct/disruptive behavioral disorders, cognitive dysfunction, and ADD/ADHD.