Rating scales are used to assess normal personality and behavioral abnormalities in children by having observers rate a child's behavior over time based on descriptions of behaviors. They are low-cost, more effective than self-reports for children, and less biased than unstructured interviews. Common formats include checklists indicating behaviors and Likert scales rating how well behaviors describe a child. Rating scales allow standardized measurement and differentiation of behaviors for comparisons to norms.

2. • Rating scale is used to assess normal personality and
the presence or absence of behavioral abnormality in
children and adolescents.
• It is any pen and pencil device where by one assess
the behavior of that individual based on his or her
observation of the child or adolescent over an
extended period of time.

3. BEHAVIOURAL RATING SCALE
APPROACHES
• A checklist format in which presence or
absence of behavioral characteristics is
indicated
Eg: Behavioral problem checklist; Quay and
Peterson 1975.
Here the score generated represents the
number of behaviors of a certain type that the
child is felt to manifest.

4. • Likert response format in which statements is
followed by a continuum on which three to seven
anchoring points are indicated. The continuum
may be based on how well the item describes the
child to be rated.
Eg:- “very much like him”
“some what like him”
“not at all like him”
(Behavioral rating profile- L.L Brown and
Hammill,1978)

5. Advantages
• Rating scales are the techniques of choice for
many personality assessment referrals
because they are the only technology that
can be practically applied.

6. Why?

7. Consider the practitioner who is
concerned about the behavioral effects
on a 6 months old infant of a difficult
forceps delivery…

8. • The infant cannot read and write…….
• No self report scales can be used…..
• No interviews can be ruled out…..
• He could not speak or draw with a pencil on a
paper, so expressive projectives are ruled out….
• Physiological measurement (eg: Heart Beat)
could be taken, but it need a technically trained
person…
• Direct behavioral observation is an option but
suffers with the same difficulties that occur with
electromagnetic recording of physiological or
behavioral medical data….

9. • The technology best suited here is to provide
a set of questions to mother or/and father
about the behavior of child since delivery in a
standardized manner with normative data
from other mothers of infants using the same
set of questions for comparison purpose.

10. What makes Rating Scales UNIQUE?
• It’s the low cost assessment method
• It is far more effective than self rating devices, as
in young children they may not have the
conceptual or cognitive abilities to respond to a
self report device.
• The rating scales are less biased compared to self
rating device*
• More reliability compared to unstructured
interviewing or performance based technique
(Martin, Hooper & snow 1986,Merrell, 2007)

11. • A check list can be supplemented to rating scale ,
which list a number of behavioral descriptions , which
he/she simply ‘checks’ the item. Thus they are
‘additive’ in nature, but rating scales estimate the
degree to which the character is present.
• Rating scales can be 2 point or 3 point in nature,
giving a numerical value.
• Conners and Werry (1979) defined rating scales as
an ‘ algebraic summation, over variable period of
time and numbers of social situations, of many
discrete observations………’(p 341)
• ‘it allows precise measurement and differentiation of
behavioral frequency or intensity ( Merrell 2007)

12. *NOTE:SELF RATING DEVICE
 Developed by Harrison Gough in 1960 at
University of California.
 It consists of 300 adjectives, from which the
person himself rates his personality.
 It contributes to a meaningful picture of the self-
concept of the person.

13. Features as an objective measurement
technique
• Individual differences in responses on a stimuli
can be measured.
• Person to Person comparison can be made.
• Use norms for comparison purpose.
• Responses are shown to be related to stimuli in
a meaningful way .
(Criteria of objective measurement technique Martin
1988)

14. A few recent personality rating
scales…
• Devereux Scale of Mental Disorders (DSMD)
(NAGLIERI AT AL,1994)
• Children's Depression Inventory (CDI)
(Kovacs 1992)
• Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS)
(Reynolds, 2002)

15. As a Teachers Tool
• Teachers are excellent raters of the behavior of
children. Their educational roles demand
observation of children of similar age on a daily
basis under relatively consistent environment
circumstances.
• Further teachers are trained observers and have
some ideas about the behaviors that is most seen
in children.
• The teachers rating scale may be less biased due
to her expertise and educational role.