ABSTRACT
Introduction: The Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003) is an objective self-report
measure of behavioral, emotional and social problems in adults. It was designed to measure
Achenbach’s eight-syndrome model of psychopathology (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003). The eight
syndrome scales are labeled Anxious-depressed, Withdrawn, Somatic complaints, Thought problems,
Attention problems, Aggressive behavior, Rule-breaking behavior, and Intrusive behavior. Clinical
assessment instruments, such as the ASR, have to have convincing empirical support for their validity
to be deemed clinically useful (Anastasi, 1994). Notably, their ability to discriminate between
pathological and normal subjects must be demonstrated (criterion validity). Literature review: Very
few studies assessed the criterion validity of the ASR. Most validity studies were conducted on its
previous version, the Young Adults Self-Report (e.g. Dingle et al., 2011; Giaconia et al., 2001; Ristkari
et al., 2006; Stranger et al., 1995; Wiznitzer et al., 1992) and may not apply to the ASR. In fact, only
one study on the actual version of the ASR (Strömbäck et al., 2015) could be found, aside from the one
presented in the ASR manual (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003). In the latter study, a multivariate analysis
showed that clinically-referred subjects had significantly higher scores on each of the eight syndrome
scales, as compared to a non-referred sample. Medium effect sizes were observed for Anxiousdepressed,
Attention problems, and Rule-breaking scales, while small effect sizes were reported for the
other five scales. In a discriminant function analysis, the eight syndrome scales led to a correct crossvalidated
classification of 71%. In Strömbäck et al. (2015) study, bivariate comparisons showed that
Swedish women with stress-related problems, compared to healthy women, had much higher scores
(medium to large effect sizes) on the ASR’s Anxious-depressed, Somatic complaints, Attention
problems, and Thought problems scales. Objective: Originally developed in English (USA), the ASR
has been translated in over thirty languages worldwide (Achenbach, 2016), including Canadian French
(Le Corff et al., 2014). The aim of the present study was to assess the criterion validity of the French-
Canadian ASR. Method: The clinical sample consisted of 132 psychiatric inpatients (76 women and 56
men) aged between 18 and 59 years (M = 35.9; SD = 12.4). The comparison sample consisted of 290
undergraduate students (239 women and 51 men) aged between 18 and 45 years (M = 20.9; SD = 3.8).
All subjects completed the French-Canadian version of the ASR, which was shown to be equivalent to
the original English version, despite slightly lower reliability coefficients (Le Corff et al., 2014).
Results: Bivariate analyses revealed that the clinical group had significantly higher scores on each of
the eight ASR syndrome scales, with medium to large effect size (from d = 0.59 to d = 1.34).
A discriminant function analysis showed that the eight syndrome scales reliably distinguished
between the clinical and comparison samples [Wilk’s Lambda = 0.579, X2(8) = 227.37, Canonical
correlation = 0.649, p < .001]. Cross-validated classification accuracy was good, with 83.2% of correct
classification (expected correct random classification was 68.7%). Sensitivity was fair, with 59.8% of
inpatients correctly classified, and specificity was excellent, with 93.8% of undergraduates correctly
classified. These results are similar, if not better, than those reported by Achenbach and Rescorla (2003)
(65% for sensitivity and 78% for specificity). Standardized discriminant coefficients showed that
Anxious-depressed (r = 0.65) and Rule-breaking behavior (r = 0.61) scales had the highest
contributions to the classification of the groups (coefficients were lower than 0.28 for the other six
scales). Conclusion: The present results support the criterion validity of the Adult Self-Report. Future
research should further assess the criterion validity by evaluating its association with specific
psychiatric diagnoses.
Keywords: ASEBA, Adult self-report, Criterion validity, Clinical assessment.