Abuso Infantil En Estudiantes Iraníes

Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Volume 17 Number 1 Spring 1382 May 2003

DEV ELOPMENT, VALIDATION AND RELIABILITY OF CHILD ABUSE SELF REPORT SCALE (CASRS) IN IRANIAN STUDENTS
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P. MOHAMMADKHANI, Ph.D.,* M. R. MOHAMMADI, M.D.,** M. A. NAZARI, M.A.,* M. SALAVATI, M.A.,* AND O.M. RAZZAGHI,M.D.**
From the

*Department of Clinical Psychol ogy, Welfare & Rehabilitation University, Tehran, and ** Roozbeh Hospital, Psychiatric Research Center, Tehran University of
Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

ABSTRACT

Diagnosing and assessing child abuse is a critical and difficult process in clinical psychology, because this phenomenon has several negative behavioral and psychologicalconsequences 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 catego­ ries of child abuse and neglect, after approving through content validity and (2)
Trauma SymptomChecklist 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 andTSCC-A, after

3 weeks test-retest was done. Through a factor

analysis , the best items were assigned. The results showed that CASRS and TSCC­ A 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 childabuse 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.

MJIRI, Vol. 17, No.1, 51-58, 2003.
Keywords: Child abuse, scale, reliability, validity, self report, Child Abuse and Self ReportScale (CASRS),

Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC-A).

INTRODUCTION
Most researches on physical and psychological mal­ treatment of children, and virtually all researches on ne­ glect are based on cases obtained from treatment or ju­ dicial agencies. Despite the importance of these clini-

cally based studies, only a small fraction of abuse and maltreatment cases are known to socialor judicial agen­ cies.1 Even given the most conservative definitions, vio­ lence within the family is disturbingly common.2 It seems that epidemiological research on child mal­ treatment and child abuse in the general population is

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Child Abuse Self Report Scale Evaluation in Iranian Children
needed. One of the requirements for epidemiological survey researches on the generalpopulation is a practi­ cal method of ascertaining the presence and degree of maltreatment and abuse. I We need to develop instruments which are suitable for our culture. In this case, we may injury.

MATERIAL AND METHODS Particip ants
This study was performed on Tehran secondary school boys and girls in November and December 2001. Through a multic l ustral stage randomized sampling, 3,042 students wereselected among 452,250 secondary school boys and girls from 19 educational areas in Tehran, Iran. Their mean age was 1 3.06 (SD=1.05), rang­ ing from 11-16 years. 51 .67% of the sample were boys and 48.33% were girls. They were in first, second and third grade of secondary school. As a criterion group, 70 run away boys with a mean age of 1 3.95 (SD=1.75) in the range of 11-16 years also...