Factonally-based dimensions of disturbance in children vary markedly across adjusted and maladjusted sitbpo ulations; hence, maladjusted children's behavior atterns must be assessea against dimensions of disturbance found among otRer maladjusted children. Within this context, 510 3-to 15-year-old children (viz., 307 boys and 203 girls) were identified a. s the significantly maladjusted :ie ment of the random normative opulation for the revised Bristol Social fdjustment Guides (BSAG). Teacgers' behavioral ratings of these children on the BSAG's core syndromes and associated item groupings were subjected to principal-components factor analysis with variniax rotation. Two dimensions emerged: The first, a unique bipolar continuum of generally overreactive vs. unforthcoming behavior; the second, a dimension of constricted socioemotional reactions. Tests for significance of exclusive jyndromic variation further revealed that several of the BSAG's syndromes carry enough stable and distinct variance to warrant their consideration as .specific qualities of diaturbance among maladjusted children and adolescents.
The development of standardized behavior rating scales and questionnaires has greatly benefited research and practice in clinical child psychology. Rating scales permit contextually knowledgeable and unobtrusive observers, such as teachers, parents, and even other children, to offer descriptions and sunimative evaluations of children's behavior in natural social settings. Based upon respondents' observations, factorially-integral dimensions of child maladjustment are identified and interpreted (for detailed reviews of such research, see . Dimensions such as "withdrawal," "conduct disorder," or "hyperactivity" thereby are derived empirically and, in turn, eniployed as building blocks for more comprehensive systems of differential diagnosis and multiaxial taxonomic classification (e.g., Edelbrock 8( Spivack, Swift, &: Prewitt, 1971).
The vast majority of child rating devices are normed upon general populations, that is, aggregate groups composed of both well-adjusted and poorly adjusted children. Sometimes the aggregate group is highly representative of the general population inasmuch as children were selected randomly from that population; more often, the aggregate is a demographically or arbitrarily constructed cohort comprised of predetermined numbers of adjusted and maladjusted children. Scales founded upon general populations are necessary because they make it possible to determine a child's similarity to the adjusted vs. maladjusted portions of the norm group.
Once diagnosed as maladjusted, it is important to discern the particular pattern of disturbance manifested by the child. In doing so, however, it is usually inappropriate to apply behavioral dimensions extracted from general populations. This is due to the fact that most of the major rating instruments are designed so that each item is a maladaptive behavior indicator scaled in such a way that a high score indicates the presence and/or degree of maladaptive behavior and a zero or near-zero score indicates absence of such behavior. Because the preponderance of children in the general population are well-adjusted, i.e., relative