Test of Time

Abstract

Whether behavior is determined mainly by situational factors or by more stable personality characteristics has been a classic debate in the social sciences. The question of the situational specificity of behavior has important implications for the assessment of children and adolescents. Because children function in multiple settings, clinicians are faced with the task of integrating information obtained from multiple informants from different settings, as well as their own clinical observations and impressions, and making clinical judgments based on this information. This process is challenging when information from different sources is not in agreement. Clinical decision-making and, ultimately, the accuracy of clinical judgments, will be influenced by how clinicians handle such discrepancies. With clinical accuracy being the chief concern in assessment, the debate about the stability vs situational specificity of behavior is an important one. The article by Achenbach, McConaughy, and Howell (1987) entitled ‘Child/Adolescent Behavioral and Emotional Problems: Implications of Cross-Informant Correlations for Situational Specificity’ has made an important contribution to the classic debate and leads to some practical recommendations for assessing children.