The stressful life events schedule for children and adolescents: development and validation.

The development and psychometric properties of the Stressful Life Events Schedule (SLES), an interview instrument to assess stressors in children and adolescents, are described. Children (< or =12 years) and adolescents (>12 years) with psychopathology (n=30) and non-psychiatric controls (n=30) were interviewed with the SLES about the occurrence of stressful life events during the prior year. To examine concurrent validity of the SLES, all subjects also completed the self-report Life Events Checklist (LEC) and half the sample completed the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS).