Parent-Reported Child Mania Rating Scale: Reliability, Validity, and Norms in a Nationally Representative US Sample
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objective To evaluate the psychometric properties, factor structure, validity, and age-and sex-specific norms of the 21-and 10-item parent-report Child Mania Rating Scale (CMRS-P) in a nationally representative U.S. sample of youth aged 6–18 years. Method Parents of 2,229 youth aged 6–18 years [weighted M ( SD )=12.0(3.3) years; 45.9% female] completed the CMRS-P and related measures between July 2025 and March 2026. Data were weighted to represent U.S. demographics. A clinical comparison sample included parents of 522 youth seeking outpatient mental health services. Complete-case analyses evaluated reliability, factor structure, item response theory, measurement equivalence, retest stability, and convergent and discriminant validity. GAMLSS estimated age-and sex-specific norms. Results Weighted mean scores were 8.5( SD =9.0) for CMRS-P-21 and 4.0(4.3) for CMRS-P-10. Internal consistency was high (ω=.97/.93), and forms correlated.95. A general severity factor explained most reliable variance (ω H =.94). Three items differed in response thresholds across samples, with an average impact below one point on expected total scores. Both forms correlated strongly with attention problems, suicidality, depression, externalizing symptoms, and emotion dysregulation ( r= .51–.63 for CMRS-P-21) and negligibly with pubertal status. Reliable-change thresholds were 14.5 (CMRS-P-21) and 6.8 (CMRS-P-10) points. Weighted GAMLSS CMRS-P-21 95th percentiles declined with age in males (30–23) and increased in females (22–30), with wide bootstrap intervals at age extremes; the female trend was not replicated without weights. Conclusions Findings support both CMRS-P forms for assessing youth manic symptoms. The first nationally representative U.S. norms provide age-and sex-adjusted benchmarks for interpreting scores and informing further clinical assessment.
Source: medRxiv
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221726644