The Berkeley Puppet Interview: A Screening Instrument for Measuring Psychopathology in Young Children

• Published in: Child & youth care forum Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 211 - 225
• Main Authors: Stone, Lisanne L., van Daal, Carlijn, van der Maten, Marloes, Engels, Rutger C. M. E., Janssens, Jan M. A. M., Otten, Roy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.04.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavior disorders; Behavior modification; Behavior Patterns; Behavior Problems; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Behavioural problems; Child and School Psychology; Child psychology; Children; Cognitive Development; Correlation; Foreign Countries; Interviews; Netherlands; Original Paper; Parent Attitudes; Parents; Psychology; Psychometrics; Psychopathology; Puppetry; Questionnaires; Screening Tests; Selfreport; Symptoms; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Teacher Attitudes; Teachers; Test Reliability; Test Validity; Test-Retest reliability; Tests; Young Children; Netherlands; Screening instrument; Berkeley Puppet Interview; Psychometric properties; Self-report
• ISSN: 1053-1890; 1573-3319
• DOI: 10.1007/s10566-013-9235-9

Background While child self-reports of psychopathology are increasingly accepted, little standardized instruments are utilized for these practices. The Berkeley Puppet Interview (BPI) is an age-appropriate instrument for self-reports of problem behavior by young children. Objective Psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the BPI will be reported, specifically, test–retest reliability, intra-class correlations, congruent and concurrent validity. Methods In a sample of 300 children ( M age  = 7.04 years, SD  = 1.15), the BPI was administered twice, with a 1-year interval. Parents and teachers filled out questionnaires about their children’s problem behavior. Results Findings from the analyses indicate that the BPI subscales have sufficient test–retest reliability and can be reliably coded. Furthermore, findings suggest adequate congruent validity. More support for concurrent validity is found among externalizing problems in comparison to internalizing problems. Conclusions With regard to the present study, the BPI seems to have adequate psychometric properties. As such, the BPI enables interviewing young children about their psychopathology-related symptoms in a standardized way. The BPI could be applied in clinical practice as a complement to the diagnostic cycle, allowing children’s self-reports to play an increasingly important role.