DEV ELOPMENT, VALIDATION AND RELIABILITY OF CHILD ABUSE SELF REPORT SCALE (CASRS) IN IRANIAN STUDENTS

Diagnosing and assessing child abuse is a critical and difficult process in clinical psychology, because this phenomenon has several negative behavioral and psychological consequences on victims. The aim of this research is to create a scale for assessing child abuse and neglect. Through a multiclustral sampling, 3042 secondary school students (boys and girls) were selected to fill (1) a list of 54 items (Child Abuse and Self Report Scale, CASRS) which assess four categories of child abuse and neglect, after approving through content validity and (2) Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC-A) in order to assign construct validity and comorbid psychopathology. Then, we did a clinical interview with a sample group who were diagnosed as abused children according to CASRS and TSCC-A. In addition, these scales were completed by a group of abused children as criterion group, for assigning criterion validity. In order to assign the reliability of CASRS and TSCC-A, after 3 weeks test-retest was done. Through a factor analysis , the best items were assigned. The results showed that CASRS and TSCCA have excellent reliability and validity. Also, its stability was at an appropriate level. In addition, factor analysis showed that 38 items were the best questions for assessing child abuse. We believe that CASRS is an instrument which measures child abuse during the current life. It is brief (6 to 8 minutes for the core scales) and practical for epidemiological researches on child abuse, maltreatment and clinical screening. Methodological issues inherent in child self-report measures of abuse are discussed.