Reliability and concurrent validity of a French version of the youth self-report for francophone youths

The objective of the study was to establish basic psychometric information on the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and a French-Canadian version of the Youth Self-Report for a non-referred Canadian sample. A survey of psychologists and psychological associates in Ontario revealed that there were few psychological instruments available to psychologists serving the Francophone population, particularly for personality and emotional assessments (Wyss, 1997). Since bilinguals tend to disclose more when they use their first language (Canino & Spurlock, 1994), the lack of appropriate psychological instruments that can be administered in French may significantly impede evaluation of Francophones. The present study compared adolescent self-report on French and English versions of Achenbach's Youth Self-Report with parent report on a parallel measure (Child Behavior Checklist, CBCL). Thirty-nine Anglophone girls and 25 Anglophone boys and their parents completed the YSR and the CBCL. Twenty-five Francophone girls and 21 Francophone boys and their parents completed the YSR, a French-Canadian translation of the YSR and the CBCL. Analyses were calculated for the 102 items common to the CBCL and YSR for three summary scores: 'Internalizing, Externalizing' and 'Total Problems'. Univariate analyses of variance indicated that youths reported more 'Internalizing' problems, 'F' (1, 109) = 52.56, 'p' < 0.001, ' Externalizing' problems, 'F' (1, 109) = 99.87, ' p' < 0.001, and 'Total Problems', 'F' (1, 109) = 139.92, 'p' < 0.001, than did their parents. Comparisons by child gender indicated no significant differences on ' Internalizing, Externalizing', or 'Total Problems' ('p' > 0.05). The YSR and the French-Canadian YSR (FCYSR) were compared for the bilingual sample. The Pearson correlations between the two versions were significant, 'r' = 0.96 to 0.98, 'p' < 0.001. The intra-class correlations were negative. Paired t-tests indicated that Francophone youths for whom French was the prominent language at home reported significantly more 'Internalizing', 't' (24) = -2.859, 'p' = 0.009 and 'Total Problems ', 't' (24) = -2.757, 'p' = 0.011 on the French version. Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.85 for ' Internalizing', 0.83 for 'Externalizing', and 0.92 for 'Total Problems'. Thirty-five Francophone youths completed the French-Canadian version a second time within approximately 5 days. The test-retest correlations for the FCYSR were high, 'r' = 0.85 to 0.87, 'p' < 0.001. The intra-class correlations were low, 'r' = 0.17 to 0.43, 'p' > 0.05. Scores decreased significantly between test and retest for 'Internalizing ', 't' (34) = 4.279, 'p' < 0.001, ' Externalizing', 't' (34) = 2.989, 'p' = 0.005, and 'Total Problems', 't' (34) = 4.124, ' p' < 0.001. Implications for clinical assessment and research are discussed.