A self-report checklist assessing the occurrence of stressful life events in children and adolescents' lives was compared to an objectively rated interview to determine whether the checklist would introduce over-reporting of events or over-rating of event severity as a function of child/parent depressive symptoms, cognitive vulnerability, or anxiety. Participants completed the Children's Life Events Scale (CLES), the Life Events Interview (LEI), and questionnaires assessing cognitive vulnerability and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Findings yielded a positive association between the checklist and the interview. Contrary to hypotheses, depressive symptoms, cognitive vulnerability, and anxiety were not associated with over-reporting of events. Anxiety was associated with over-rating of event severity in parents but not children. Findings suggest that the checklist and interview may be equally viable approaches to assessing the occurrence of life events. Findings have mixed implications with regard to assessing event severity, as subjective reports may be systematically influenced by anxiety.
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Notes
To ensure that the inclusion of young children (e.g., 7 years of age) did not bias results, all analyses were re-run, without the data from this age group. Findings did not differ with regard to the relationship between children's over-reporting of events or over-rating of event severity and depressive symptoms, symptoms of anxiety, or cognitive vulnerability.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research reported in this article was supported, in part, by a Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) awarded to John R. Z. Abela. John R. Z. Abela and Clara Wagner contributed equally to this article. We would like to thank Martin E. P. Seligman and David Zuroff for serving as mentors for the NARSAD grant. We would also like to thank Michael Birnbaum, Karen Brozina, Chris Bryan, Geneviève Dumas, Sabrina Drudi, Dean Elterman, Melanie Ewing, Hugo Gagnon, Pauline Gregoire, Rachel Horton, Chris Knundsen, Anais Lavarenne, Nathali Lefebvre, Geneviève LePage, Alexandra McIntyre-Smith, Norma Moussaly, Zohreen Murad, Christine Ngo, David Paul, Andrew Payne, Jacqueline Poitras, Jay Poitras, Anna Radzioch, Maya Sakellaropoulo, Raffi Schieir, and Sharmeen Shah for conducting assessments of the children and their parents.
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Wagner, C., Abela, J.R.Z. & Brozina, K. A Comparison of Stress Measures in Children and Adolescents: A Self-Report Checklist Versus an Objectively Rated Interview. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 28, 250–260 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-005-9010-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-005-9010-9