2000/03/01 by Maria E. Pagano, Linden J. Cassidy, Michelle Little +3
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Early Childhood Education and Development #Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
paper · doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6807(200003)37:2<91::aid-pits1>3.0.co;2-3
openalex publication_date 2000/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) is a brief, well-validated parent-report questionnaire designed to detect psychosocial dysfunction in school-age children during pediatric primary care visits. This study assessed the utility of the PSC when completed by children (PSC-Y) ages 9-14 in a public school when parents are not available (n= 173). The PSC-Y identified 20% of children as having psychosocial problems, a rate similar to other low-income samples. When compared with teacher ratings of attention and behavior problems, the PSC-Y showed a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 88%. The PSC-Y correlated significantly with teacher and parent measures of child dysfunction, and with child-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. Three quarters of the children identified by the PSC-Y were not identified by parents on the PSC. These children had impairment on all other measures, but fewer than one in five had received mental health services, suggesting the PSC-Y identified children with unmet mental health needs. The PSC-Y has the potential to be a rapid, easily administered tool for large-scale mental health screening in schools. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.