Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-35), parent form
A total does not establish individual item responses.
Emotional and physical health go together in children. Because parents are often the first to notice a problem with their child’s behavior, emotions or learning, you may help your child get the best care possible by answering these questions. Please mark under the heading that best fits your child.
©1988, M.S. Jellinek and J.M. Murphy, Massachusetts General Hospital
Responses stay in this page’s memory. Reset or leave the page to clear them. No patient identifiers are collected.
About this scale and references
Reference information · Questionnaire
- Last content update
- 2026-10-26
- Clinical review
- Not independently reviewed
- Source jurisdiction
- See individual sources
- Coverage
- Questionnaire
| Field | Instrument context |
|---|---|
| Version | MGH English parent PSC-35; original 1988 item order; ages 6–16; two unscored help/service questions retained |
| Population | Children and adolescents aged 6–16 years; this website edition does not apply preschool scoring or youth self-report thresholds. |
| Respondent | Parent or guardian describing the child |
| Recall period | No fixed recall interval specified in the selected MGH form |
| Purpose | Screen parent-reported psychosocial functioning for concerns requiring further clinical evaluation |
Administration
Use this parent form for a child aged 6–16. Select Never, Sometimes or Often for all 35 symptom statements. The website requires all 35 symptom ratings before calculating a score; the source permits limited blanks, but this website does not impute unselected answers as Never. The final two help/service questions are optional and unscored. Discuss requested service details with the clinician; this website collects no names or free-text service requests.
Scoring method
Sum the 35 symptom ratings, each coded Never=0, Sometimes=1 and Often=2, for a total of 0–70. For the selected ages 6–16 parent edition, the source US screening guide is 28 or more. Help and service requests are excluded from the total.
Interpretation & limitations
- The threshold of 28 is a screening guide derived from US school-age populations. It identifies concerns for further evaluation and does not establish a psychiatric diagnosis. Local language, developmental and cultural context may change interpretation.
- The preschool age-specific exclusion and threshold rules and the youth self-report version are not applied to this selected 6–16 parent edition.
- Source scoring permits up to three blank symptom ratings to be assigned zero and considers four or more blanks invalid. This website instead requires all 35 symptom ratings; it never changes an unanswered statement into a Never response.
- A parent request for help or services is retained even when the symptom score is incomplete. Discuss clinical concerns regardless of the total.
- This checklist supports a clinical conversation and does not replace child/family assessment or information from other settings.
- No automatic diagnosis, medication change or declaration of safety.
References · 3
- MGH exact English parent PSC-35 form; all 35 items, anchors and two help/service questions
- Michael S. Jellinek: free availability and electronic clinical administration · Co-developer Michael S. Jellinek states that the PSC is freely available with no charge for the tool, its use or scoring, and describes electronic clinical administration. This is a free clinical questionnaire, with source wording and developer attribution retained; no charge is made for this instrument.
- Developer clinical guide: scoring, ages 6–16 threshold and interpretation