The Berkeley Puppet Interview: A Screening Instrument for Measuring Psychopathology in Young Children

While child self-reports of psychopathology are increasingly accepted, little standardized instruments are utilized for these practices. The Berkeley Puppet Interview (BPI) is an age-appropriate instrument for self-reports of problem behavior by young children. Psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the BPI will be reported, specifically, test-retest reliability, intra-class correlations, congruent and concurrent validity. In a sample of 300 children (M (age) = 7.04 years, SD = 1.15), the BPI was administered twice, with a 1-year interval. Parents and teachers filled out questionnaires about their children's problem behavior. Findings from the analyses indicate that the BPI subscales have sufficient test-retest reliability and can be reliably coded. Furthermore, findings suggest adequate congruent validity. More support for concurrent validity is found among externalizing problems in comparison to internalizing problems. With regard to the present study, the BPI seems to have adequate psychometric properties. As such, the BPI enables interviewing young children about their psychopathology-related symptoms in a standardized way. The BPI could be applied in clinical practice as a complement to the diagnostic cycle, allowing children's self-reports to play an increasingly important role.