A screening/assessment instrument's prediction of a child's behavior in real life.

• A. Internal Consistency
• B. Concurrent Validity
• C. Content Validity
• D. Predictive Validity

Answer: (D)

Predictive validity is the extent to which scores on a screening tool forecast how a child will behave in real-life settings in the future. When a tool is used to predict future behavior or outcomes, we’re assessing predictive validity. Internal consistency refers to how reliably the items on a test measure the same construct and is about reliability, not future outcomes. Content validity asks whether the test items adequately cover the domain of interest. Concurrent validity looks at how well the instrument’s results align with another measure taken at the same time. Since the focus is on predicting future real-life behavior, predictive validity is the best fit.