COMPARISONS OF PROBLEMS REPORTED BY PARENTS OF CHILDREN IN 12 CULTURES - TOTAL PROBLEMS, EXTERNALIZING, AND INTERNALIZING

Objective: To compare parent-reported problems for children in 12 cult ures. Method: Child Behavior Checklists were analyzed for 13,697 child ren and adolescents, aged 6 through 17 years, from general population samples in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Greece, Israel, Jamaica , the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Thailand, and the United State s. Results: Comparisons of 12 cultures across ages 6 through 11 and 9 cultures across ages 6 through 17 yielded medium effect sizes for cros s-cultural variations in Total Problem, Externalizing, and Internalizi ng scores. Puerto Rican scores were the highest, while Swedish scores were the lowest. With great cross-cultural consistency, Total and Exte rnalizing scores declined with age, while Internalizing scores increas ed; boys obtained higher Total and Externalizing scores but lower Inte rnalizing scores than girls. Cross-cultural correlations were high amo ng the mean item scores. Conclusions: Empirically based assessment pro vides a robust methodology for assessing and comparing problems report ed for children from diverse cultures. Age and gender Variations are c ross-culturally consistent. Although clinical cutoff points should not necessarily be uniform across all cultures, empirically based assessm ent offers a cost-effective way to identify problems for which childre n from diverse cultural backgrounds may need help.