Purpose of the Questionnaire

The questionnaire aims to provide a clinical assessment of behavioral and emotional problems and is sensitive to changes in these areas. It was also developed as a screening tool for use by mental health professionals to detect problems related to children’s behavior—primarily from preschool age (3 to 6 years old).

Questionnaire Analysis

The Behavior Questionnaire was designed by Behar in 1977 and is based on the Behavior Questionnaire originally created by Rutter in 1967. It consists of 36 questions across three factors:
Disruptive–aggressive
Anxious–fearful
Hyperactive–disorganized
The questionnaire has been translated and adapted for the Greek population by Greek researchers Dóni and Giótsa (2019).

Scoring

Scoring is conducted as follows: Parents of the children are asked to respond to 36 questions, distributed across a 3-point Likert scale. The questions are based on interviews with parents and assess four broad domains, each containing three specific personality dimensions of the child:
a) Emotional reactivity (conduct, individualism/self-centeredness, emotional instability)
b) Cognitive development (intelligence, maturity, self-confidence), Extroversion (activity level, warmth, sociability)
c) Inhibition (withdrawal, emotional sensitivity, attachment)

Statistical Analysis

Higher scores indicate greater aggression, fearful behavior, and increased attention deficit in children.

Validity of the Questionnaire

Correlations with various variables suggest that the three subcategories of psychopathology demonstrate satisfactory construct validity.

Reliability of the Questionnaire

The reliability of both internal consistency and test-retest measurements appears to be satisfactory. The internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s Alpha) were 0.88 for the overall scale.
Greek References
Dóni, E., & Giótsa, A. (2019). Overview of psychometric tools for detecting behavioral and emotional problems in preschool children. Scientific Yearbook of the Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Ioannina, 12(1), 164–204.
Foreign References
Behar, L. B. (1977). The preschool behavior questionnaire. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 5(3), 265–275.