The Use of the Stress Response Scale in Diagnostic Assessment with Children

Abstract

Children's experience with stress provides a useful paradigm for the assessment of their emotional status. Such an assessment must be concerned with identifying the typical behavioral pattern a child is likely to adopt in response to stress. The Stress Response Scale has been developed to assess those response patterns. This study compared the behavior patterns of a group of children referred because of possible emotional disorders with their psychiatric diagnoses. It also examined the agreement between parents and teachers as to the type of response pattern likely to be shown by the child. The results suggested that the scale may be sensitive to selected psychiatric diagnostic categories commonly assigned to children from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.