DEVELOPMENT, RELIABILITY, AND VALIDITY OF A CHILD DISSOCIATION SCALE

Dissociation is a complex psychophysiological process that ranges alon g a continuum from minor, normal dissociation to Axis I psychopatholog y. High levels of dissociation are associated with increased self-dest ructive behaviors and other symptoms. Although several validated measu res of dissociation exist for adults, no measures are available for ch ildren. The Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC) was developed to meet t his need and is a reliable and valid observer report measure of dissoc iation in children. The CDC had a 1-year test-retest reliability coeff icient of rho =.69 (N = 73, p =.0001) in a sample of normal and sexual ly abused girls. The CDC had high discriminant validity among four tes t samples including: normal control girls, sexually abused girls, boys and girls with dissociative disorder NOS and boys and girls with mult iple personality disorder. The CDC is intended as a clinical screening instrument and as a research measure. The CDC is not designed to be u sed as a diagnostic instrument.