Cultural differences can complicate measurement of mental
distress in different countries. For teenagers the problem is
compounded by rapid developmental changes. Verhulst et al. (p.
1479) examined scores on the Youth Self-Report for adolescents
in Australia, China, Israel, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Turkey,
and the United States. The score for total problems varied
little. For the subgroup of externalizing problems (e.g.,
delinquent behavior) the score also showed little variation, but
culture had a medium effect on the difference in internalizing
problems (e.g., anxiety/depression). In the majority of
cultures, scores increased with age. Each country’s scores for
individual problems significantly correlated with scores of each
other country. Cross-cultural variation was greatest for thought
problems (e.g., "I see things that other people think aren’t
there") and smallest for aggressive behavior. Overall, the Youth
Self-Report appears to be a simple, inexpensive means of
assessing adolescents’ problems in div