Relationships Between the MACI and the BASC in the Assessment of Child and Adolescent Offenders

ABSTRACT

Although the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI; Millon, 1993) and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992) are widely used for the assessment of child and adolescent offenders, no research has examined the interrelationship between these two psychological measures. We investigated the MACI and the BASC responses from 92 adolescents assessed at the Juvenile Court Evaluation Unit in Miami, Florida. Bivariate correlation analyses identified areas of significant associations between the instruments, with coefficients ranging widely from −.73 to .82. Profile analysis revealed similar diagnostic pictures for these young offenders when using the MACI and BASC. Both the MACI and the BASC identified significant levels of depression- and anxiety-related diagnoses as well as substantial personal problems such as feelings of inadequacy and peer insecurity. In contrast, the BASC-parent version identified hyperactivity, aggression, and conduct problems as significant clinical concerns. The rates of diagnostic assignment agreements between diagnoses produced by MACI findings and BASC results were typically moderate.

KEYWORDS:

• BASC
• Millon
• juvenile offenders
• assessment
• treatment
• adolescents