Convergent validity of the Child Behavior Checklist sleep items with validated sleep measures and sleep disorder diagnoses in children and adolescents referred to a sleep disorders center

Abstract

Objective: The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) is a commonly used measure of child and adolescent functioning, and a handful of items from the CBCL are often used to measure sleep functioning. The objective of this study was to examine the convergent, discriminant, and external validity of the individual CBCL sleep items and a CBCL sleep composite with validated measures of sleep functioning and youth adjustment as well as sleep disorder diagnoses.

Methods: The participants were 383 youths (ages 6-18 years; 52.5% male; 80% non-Hispanic White) evaluated in a behavioral sleep medicine clinic. A sleep psychologist diagnosed sleep disorders following a comprehensive evaluation. Parents completed the CBCL in addition to the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and the Sleep Disorders Inventory for Students (SDIS). Adolescents completed the Adolescent Sleep-Wake Scale (ASWS).

Results: Individual CBCL sleep items were generally associated with sleep scales on validated sleep measures and with sleep disorder diagnoses. The CBCL sleep composite was associated with total scores on each of the sleep-specific measures, as well as with the CBCL attention, social, internalizing, and externalizing problems scales.

Conclusions: Although the CBCL is inadequate for thoroughly assessing sleep problems and disorders, sleep items on the CBCL may be useful in epidemiological/archival studies that lack a more comprehensive sleep measure or to clinicians who do not use other validated sleep measures in their typical practice. Individual CBCL sleep items may be optimal when assessing specific facets of sleep functioning whereas the CBCL sleep composite may be optimal when examining overall sleep functioning and external correlates of sleep.

Keywords: Assessment; CBCL; Inattention; Sleep disorders; Sleep functioning; Social functioning; Validity.