The Relationship of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) to Other Measures of Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms in a Nonclinical Population

Abstract

The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS; Goodman, Price, Rasmussen, & Mazure, 1989a) is an interview-based rating scale measuring severity of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Because it is independent of the number and type of OCD symptoms and minimizes confounding with other types of symptoms, it has become the "gold standard" for assessing the outcome of behavioral and pharmacological treatments. This study was designed to further validate the YBOCS in relation to self-report measures of obsessive compulsive phenomena in a nonclinical population. Among a group of 45 female college students, the three primary YBOCS measures (obsessions, compulsions, and total score) were internally consistent and correlated moderately to strongly with self-report measures of obsessive compulsive phenomena that have been used in previous research. The compulsive subscale of the YBOCS showed the lowest correlation with self-report measures sharing only 25% of the common variance. This measure is appropriate for use with nonclinical samples and may prove superior to other instruments for detecting the presence and severity of obsessive and compulsive symptoms.