Brief Description
The Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 - Parent (PSC-17-Parent) is a brief screening questionnaire completed by parents to help identify emotional, behavioral and social problems. It is an abbreviated version of the original 35-item parent-reported PSC questionnaire. The PSC-17 - Parent covers a broad range of emotional, behavioral and social problems and is meant to provide an overall assessment of psychosocial functioning. Respondents rate how often their child experiences the symptoms listed (e.g., “Feels hopeless”) on a scale from “Never” to “Often.”
Assessment Administration Type
Parent/caregiver report
Number of questions
17
Age Range for Administration
Parents/caregivers of children ages 4-16
Recommended Frequency of Administration
No recommended frequency. It may be used as a screening tool and/or as clinically indicated to monitor treatment progress (e.g., every 2 weeks).
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
The PSC-17-Parent contains 17 questions scored on a 3-point Likert scale with values from 0 (“Never”) to 2 (“Often”). A total score is calculated by summing the item responses and ranges from 0 to 34; higher scores are associated with poorer psychosocial functioning. A total score of 15 or higher suggests clinically significant psychosocial issues.
The PSC-17-Parent also provides three subscale scores:
(1) Attention, which assesses problems with attention. If the score is significant, consider speaking to the child’s teacher to get more information as attention problems often cause difficulties in school.
(2) Internalizing, which assesses problems with anxiety or depression. Children whose scores are significant on this subscale might withdraw from social situations or mention unexplained physical symptoms.
(3) Externalizing, which assesses problems with disruptive behavior/conduct. Children whose scores are significant on this subscale sometimes hurt others or get in trouble with others.
Subscale scores are calculated by summing corresponding item responses. See the table below for subscales and score interpretations.
Subscale | Item Numbers | Interpretation |
Internalizing | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | A score of 5 or more suggests clinically significant issues |
Attention | 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | A score of 7 or more suggests clinically significant issues. |
Externalizing | 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 | A score of 7 or greater suggests clinically significant issues |
Blueprint Adjustments
N/A
Clinical Considerations
Estimated completion time: 4-7 minutes
Psychosocial problems affect about 12% of children. Such problems often go unnoticed by pediatricians, teachers and even parents and can lead to more serious problems in later life. Research shows that earlier detection and treatment can lead to better outcomes. As such, professional organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend psychosocial screening as a part of the annual physical for all children and adolescents. The PSC is one of the most widely used screening tools for this purpose.
If the total score or one of the subscale scores meets the clinically significant threshold, most practices ask clinicians to devote a few extra minutes to getting a sense of why the number of problems reported is so high. Some clinicians discuss the symptoms that were marked as “often” with the parent and/or child, while others ask about major areas of daily functioning such as family, school, friends, activities and mood.
There are multiple versions of the PSC-17, including a youth-report version and Spanish version.
Citation
Gardner, W., Murphy, M., Childs, G., Kelleher, K., & Sturner, R. (1999). The PSC-17: a brief Pediatric Symptom Checklist with psychosocial problem subscales. A report from PROS and ASPN. Ambulatory Child Health, 5(3), 225–236.
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