Evaluation of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents for use in general population samples

Abstract

This article presents evaluative data on the use of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-Revised (DICA-R) to classify DSM-III-R disorders in the general population. Data for the analyses came from a probability sample (N = 251) of parent-child/adolescent dyads aged 6 to 16 separately administered the DICA-R on two occasions, 10- to 20 days apart, by trained lay interviewers and child psychiatrists. Data are presented on prevalence, test-retest reliability, parent-child/adolescent agreement, and trained lay interviewer-child psychiatrist agreement. High prevalences of oppositional defiant disorder derived from parent assessments and overanxious disorder and dysthymia derived from adolescent assessments suggest that these disorders may be overidentified. Interview data provided by 6- to 11-year olds to classify the internalizing disorders were too unreliable to be useful. Agreement between parent-child/adolescent dyads was generally low while agreement between trained lay interviewers-child psychiatrists was generally high.