title: Criterion validity of informants in the diagnosis of disruptive behavior disorders in children: a preliminary study.
abstract: The relative validity of the reports of parents, teachers, and children, and combinations of these informants was assessed using measures of concurrent impairment associated with disruptive behavior disorders as criterion variables in a clinic-referred sample of 177 boys ages 7-12 years. For oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), the reports from teachers, alone and in combination with parents and children, showed the strongest relations to impairment criteria. The reports of parents and children, alone and in combination, were relatively less valid. For attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, there were no significant correlations between the reports of any single informant or combination of informants and the impairment criteria. This study provides preliminary support for the validity of multi-informant diagnostic assessment of ODD and CD in children, especially when the teacher is one of the informants.
authors.affiliation: Yale U School of Medicine, Child Study Ctr, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: Elizabeth L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: Benjamin B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Lahey
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Loeber
authors.forename: Kelly S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Hanson
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results