The measurement of adolescent adaptive processes in the clinical interview

A study is described measuring the clinical usefulness of Adolescent Adaptive Process Scales. These processes are measured in three groups of adolescents in which psychopathology is also measured using a standardized psychiatric interview. Inter-rater reliability is calculated between two raters and mean score comparisons are made between the groups using the t-test method. In the study a higher inter-rater reliability and some preliminary evidence of construct validity are found for these scales. The findings indicate that these scales could constitute a useful clinical tool in pyschotherapy, research and teaching. They also provide scope for future work in the field.