Development and validation of a short form of the German Developmental Behaviour Checklist for Teachers (DBC-T)
IPC
- Zurbriggen, Carmen L.A. University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Hell, Friederike T. ORCID University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Steinhausen, Hans-Christoph Universiy of Zurich, Switzerland, University of Basel, Switzerland, Southern University of Denmark at Odense, Denmark
- Müller, Christoph M. University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- 2025
Published in:
- Research in Developmental Disabilities. - Elsevier BV. - 2025, vol. 163, p. 105042
English
Background: Children and adolescents with an intellectual disability (ID) show increased rates of
emotional and behavioural problems, presenting significant challenges for the afflicted individuals,
their families, and their teachers. The teacher version of the Developmental Behaviour
Checklist (DBC-T) is a reliable and valid questionnaire comprising 94 items that assess emotional
and behavioural problems in children and adolescents with ID.
Aims: The present study aimed to develop and validate a short form of the German DBC-T that
retains the structure and the good psychometric properties of the full version, thereby allowing
for the interpretation of the subscale scores.
Methods and procedures: Data were obtained from a longitudinal study involving 397 teacher staff
members who reported on 1177 children and adolescents with ID at two time points during one
school year (T1, T2). The full version of the DBC-T was shortened in a two-stage process based on
data from T1. The reliability of the subscales of the short form and various aspects of construct
validity were evaluated using data from T1 and T2.
Results: A short form of 35 items was developed. The factor structure was confirmed at both T1
and T2. The five subscales demonstrated good internal consistency. The findings indicated both
discriminant and convergent validity in relation to adaptive behaviour, as well as known-group
validity concerning gender and age.
Conclusions: The proposed short form complements the full version of the DBC-T and offers a timeefficient
means of assessing multiple students simultaneously, as often required in school and
research contexts.
emotional and behavioural problems, presenting significant challenges for the afflicted individuals,
their families, and their teachers. The teacher version of the Developmental Behaviour
Checklist (DBC-T) is a reliable and valid questionnaire comprising 94 items that assess emotional
and behavioural problems in children and adolescents with ID.
Aims: The present study aimed to develop and validate a short form of the German DBC-T that
retains the structure and the good psychometric properties of the full version, thereby allowing
for the interpretation of the subscale scores.
Methods and procedures: Data were obtained from a longitudinal study involving 397 teacher staff
members who reported on 1177 children and adolescents with ID at two time points during one
school year (T1, T2). The full version of the DBC-T was shortened in a two-stage process based on
data from T1. The reliability of the subscales of the short form and various aspects of construct
validity were evaluated using data from T1 and T2.
Results: A short form of 35 items was developed. The factor structure was confirmed at both T1
and T2. The five subscales demonstrated good internal consistency. The findings indicated both
discriminant and convergent validity in relation to adaptive behaviour, as well as known-group
validity concerning gender and age.
Conclusions: The proposed short form complements the full version of the DBC-T and offers a timeefficient
means of assessing multiple students simultaneously, as often required in school and
research contexts.
- Faculty
- Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
- Department
- Département de Pédagogie spécialisée
- Language
-
- English
- License
-
CC BY
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1016/j.ridd.2025.105042
- ISSN 0891-4222
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/332606
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