The ASEBA seeks to capture consistencies or variations in behavior across different situations and with different interaction partners.
The ASEBA was created by Thomas Achenbach in 1966 as a response to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I).
[3][4] Achenbach used machine learning and principal component analysis when developing the ASEBA in order to cluster symptoms together when forming the assessment's eight categories.
[5] Additionally, this reliance on real-world case records allows the ASEBA to interpret scores in relation to age, gender, and ethnic/racial norms, as symptom/disorder severity and meaning vary across cultures.
[6] The ASEBA consists of many self-report assessments for individuals between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.