Children's Somatic Symptom Inventory (CSSI-8) Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Not at all
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Often
- Very often
- Not at all
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Often
- Very often
- Not at all
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Often
- Very often
Children's Somatic Symptom Inventory (CSSI-8) Test - Description and methodology of the test
Parents, clinicians, school professionals, and adolescents who want a structured way to discuss recurring physical complaints can use this questionnaire as a pediatric somatic symptom assessment. The Children's Somatic Symptom Inventory (CSSI-8) Test organizes reported experiences across several bodily systems. It supports focused reflection on patterns, distress, daily functioning, and changes over time.
What This Assessment Measures
Rather than explaining why a symptom occurs, the questionnaire records how often a child or adolescent experiences bodily complaints. Items cover pain in the abdomen, head, back, arms, or legs; gastrointestinal upset; dizziness or fainting; a pounding or racing heart; and weakness. This suits adults supporting a young person who can describe recent physical experiences.
Used as somatic symptom screening for children, the result reflects reported symptom burden rather than proof of a particular medical or psychological cause. Higher totals indicate greater burden within this assessment and may support screening and monitoring discussions of distress, functioning, and change over time.
The displayed result is organized as follows:
- Somatization (0–32) measures the severity of reported somatic symptoms, with Low (0–10), Moderate (11–21), and High (22–32) bands.
Methodology and Evidence Base
CSSI-8 (Stone et al., 2024) is the closest published reference for this brief pediatric format. The longer CSI-24 work by Walker et al. (2009) provides context for the broader construct, while Stone et al. (2019) discusses clinical reference points for pediatric symptom totals. These sources support conceptual comparison; they do not establish that this online questionnaire is identical to each published instrument.
Each item uses five ordered frequency choices: Not at all, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, and Very often. Responses move from lower to higher symptom frequency, producing an overall total that is interpreted using the catalogue's stated categories; the format does not provide a basis for inferring a separate per-answer clinical rule. The published studies provide evidence for related measures, but do not by themselves establish norms for this online presentation.
Barsky (2014) emphasizes careful assessment of somatic symptoms and the importance of considering context instead of dismissing complaints. As a child somatic symptom questionnaire, this tool depends on honest self-report and can be influenced by current illness, stress, memory, and confidence in describing bodily sensations; interpretation is strongest when considered with health history, functioning, and change over time.
- Stone, Amanda L., Judy Garber, and Lynn S. Walker. The Children’s Somatic Symptoms Inventory-8: Psychometric Properties of a Brief Measure of Somatic Distress. Children. 2024;11(11):1326. 10.3390/children11111326
- Walker, Lynn S., Joy E. Beck, Judy Garber, and Warren Lambert. Children's Somatization Inventory: Psychometric Properties of the Revised Form (CSI-24). Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 2009;34(4):430–440. 10.1093/jpepsy/jsn093
- Stone, Amanda L., Lynn S. Walker, Lauren C. Heathcote, J. Maya Hernandez, Molly C. Basch, Anna C. Wilson, and Laura E. Simons. Somatic Symptoms in Pediatric Patients With Chronic Pain: Proposed Clinical Reference Points for the Children’s Somatic Symptoms Inventory (Formerly the Children’s Somatization Inventory). The Journal of Pain. 2019;20(8):932–940. 10.1016/j.jpain.2019.02.005
- Barsky, Arthur J. Assessing Somatic Symptoms in Clinical Practice. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2014;174(3):407–408. 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.12177
Updated: