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Table 3 Changes in mental health and behavior problems and social goals from initial to last measurement

From: Assessing change in the behavior of children and adolescents in youth welfare institutions using goal attainment scaling

 

M(t1)

M(tn)

SD(t1)

SD(tn)

t

df

p

Effect size

Improvement (%)

r(change, time)

Behavior problems

          

CBCL internalizing

60.75

58.62

9.94

10.49

3.98*

335

<.0001

0.21

19.1

-.09

CBCL externalizing

60.88

59.70

11.72

12.09

2.11

335

.0354

0.10

16.1

-.03

CBCL total problems

62.77

60.79

8.94

10.43

3.98*

335

<.0001

0.20

21.1

-.09

YSR internalizing

59.79

56.77

11.03

10.65

5.65*

316

<.0001

0.28

21.5

-.13

YSR externalizing

60.35

58.25

11.03

10.39

3.94*

316

<.0001

0.20

17.0

-.03

YSR total problems

63.01

59.79

10.70

9.94

6.44*

316

<.0001

0.31

20.8

-.10

Social goals

          

Independence

4.32

4.89

1.32

1.27

8.69*

414

<.0001

0.44

53.7

.18*

Future perspective

4.28

4.65

1.55

1.58

4.49*

414

<.0001

0.24

45.1

.14

Conflict management

4.06

4.60

1.26

1.24

8.08*

414

<.0001

0.43

52.5

.05

Ability to criticize / take criticism

4.17

4.58

1.34

1.26

5.77*

414

<.0001

0.32

43.9

.07

Reliability / rule compliance

4.96

5.15

1.37

1.30

2.75

414

.0062

0.14

39.8

.06

Behavior at school / vocational training

4.61

4.86

1.55

1.42

2.95

414

.0034

0.17

41.4

.02

Integration into (peer)groups / friendship

4.80

5.29

1.45

1.35

6.92*

414

<.0001

0.35

47.5

.20*

Ability to communicate

4.60

4.98

1.15

1.11

6.25*

414

<.0001

0.34

46.5

.14

Total score

4.47

4.88

1.01

1.01

8.37*

414

<.0001

0.41

65.3

.16

  1. CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist/4-18; YSR = Youth Self-Report; CBCL: N = 336, YSR: N = 317, social goals: N = 415; effect size = Cohen’s d: 0.2-0.5 small effect; improvement = percentage of clients whose assessment changed from T ≥ 60 to T < 60 in CBCL/YSR or who showed increase in this goal behavior; r = Pearson’s correlation between the extent of change and length of time interval between measurements: 0.1-0.3 small effect; p-level (adjusted) for 15 t-Tests: *p = .01 → p = .00067.