Construction and Validation of Conduct Disorder Scale: A Clinician and Self-Report Measure

Background:The Conduct Disorder Clinician and self-report Scale (CDS-CSR) is a newly developed scale measuring the severity of deviation in behavior. Currently, there are no studies in the establishment of reliability and validity, and factor of measures of conduct disorder among adolescents in India.Objective/Aim: The present study aimed to develop the CDS-CSR and validate the reliability and validity of the scale on the given sample.Method: A Scale of 50 items in the self-report and 12 items in the clinician report scale was developed wherein the items of the scale were decided based on the symptoms & behavioral problems covered under diagnostic guidelines of CD. Subsequently, purposive sampling of 250 juvenile offenders, 84% boys and 16% girls (10–18 years old), with a range of conduct associated with the problem, were administered by a Clinical Psychologist. Result:The internal consistency and inter-rater reliability was found to be significant for clinician and self report subscale of CDS- CSR. In addition, the content correctness index and the face validity of 0.83 & 0.87 was established respectively. The findings suggest that the measures are useful instruments for assessing sexual behavior, disruptive behavior, the environment's effect, and personality problems in children and adolescents. Conclusion:With positive and reversed scoring, the CDS-CSR is a 5-point Likert scale that includes 50 self-report items and 12 clinician report items in a diagnostic index. The Scale is utilized for diagnostic purposes.Keywords: Conduct Disorder, Clinician’s rating, Delinquents, Diagnosis