title: A comparison of DSM-II and DSM-III in the diagnosis of childhood psychiatric disorders. II. Interrater agreement.
abstract: A case-history format was utilized to compare interrater agreement on childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders, using DSM-II and DSM-III. The average interrater agreement was 57% for DSM-II and 54% for axis I (clinical psychiatric syndrome) of DSM-III. There was high agreement in both systems on cases of psychosis, conduct disorder, hyperactivity, and mental retardation, with DSM-III appearing slightly better. There was noteworthy interrater disagreement in both systems for "anxiety" disorders, complex cases, and in the subtyping of depression. Overall, the reliability of DSM-III appears to be good and is comparable with that of DSM-II and other classification systems of childhood psychiatric disorders.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis; D001288:Attention; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000175:diagnosis; D008370:Manuals as Topic; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis