Use of the PSC-17 in Turkish school-aged children

Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess whether the Turkish version of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17) is valid and suitable for the early detection of psychosocial problems among children. Additionally, the study represents a psychosocial profile of Turkish children. 
Methods.  Parents of 408 children attending to primary school in Istanbul completed Turkish translation of the PSC- 17 and demographic information. Internal consistency of the scale was tested by Cronbach’s alpha. Demographic variables related to the positive scores were analysed using the logistic regression.
Results. The internal consistency of the Turkish PSC-17 was 0.79. The test-retest correlation for four-week interval was r (45) = 0.63, p < 0.01. The item total correlations ranged from 0.34 to 0.65.  The rotated factor matrix showed that 17 items have composition with 3 factors: internalizing, externalizing, attention. Cronbach’s alpha estimates ranged from .63 to .72 for the subscales. Overall, 41% of children had at least 1 positive PSC-17 subscale. Sixteen percent scored positive on the internalizing subscale, 16% on the externalizing subscale, 28% on the attention subscale and 22 % had a positive PSC-17 total score. Strong predictors of psychosocial dysfunction were as follows: family history of psychiatric illness (odds ratio [OR] 2.04) for total score; male children (OR 3.05) for attention subscale; negative perception of parents about child’s health (OR 2.99) and children do not live with biological parents (OR 3.08) for internalizing subscale.
Conclusions: The Turkish version of the PSC-17 scale showed an adequate reliability and validity for its use on Turkish children. However, additional studies need to explain sensitivity.