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Exploring Child and Parent Factors in the Diagnostic Agreement on the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule

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Abstract

Worryingly low levels of parent–child agreement on child psychiatric diagnosis are reported. This study examined parent–child agreement on diagnostic categories and severity ratings with the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule, Child and Parents versions (ADIS-C/P). Children’s age, gender, motivation and self-concept and parent’s general psychopathology and diagnoses were examined. Participants were 110 children (aged 8–14 years) with a principal specific phobia diagnosis, and their parents. Findings revealed excellent parent–child agreement on principal specific phobia diagnosis (97.3%), and fair levels of concordance on most co-occurring secondary diagnoses. As expected, children with high motivation had generally stronger parent–child agreement on diagnoses and severity ratings (for ADHD p < .001). Parents reported overall more diagnoses for their children (for GAD p < .03; SOCP p < .02) and parents with diagnoses seemed more tuned in to their children’s problematic behavior. It is suggested that clinicians screen for motivation status early in the assessment phase and use both parts of the ADIS-C/P.

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Notes

  1. Experience from our previous study on children’s phobias (Öst et al. 2001) was that a one-session exposure treatment for injection phobia was insufficient, and therefore this phobia was excluded from the present study.

  2. The following equation was used: z = |ĸ 1 - ĸ 2|/√[(SE1)2 + (SE2)2]. This way of comparing kappa scores has previously been used by Safford et al. (2005).

  3. Sixteen cases had the median score 20 and were randomly placed in one of the two motivation groups.

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Acknowledgement

Special thanks are extended to Rio Cederlund, Mari Ljungström and Bella Stensnäs for their assistance in the data collection and to the children and parents who participated in the study.

This study was funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health Grant R0151308 to Thomas H. Ollendick (PI) and Lars-Göran Öst (Co-PI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, S-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lena Reuterskiöld & Lars-Göran Öst

  2. Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Thomas Ollendick

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  1. Lena Reuterskiöld
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  2. Lars-Göran Öst
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  3. Thomas Ollendick
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Correspondence to Lena Reuterskiöld.

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Reuterskiöld, L., Öst, LG. & Ollendick, T. Exploring Child and Parent Factors in the Diagnostic Agreement on the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 30, 279–290 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-008-9081-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-008-9081-5

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