Scales, diagnoses, and child psychopathology: II. Comparing the CBCL and the DISC against external validators.
Using a multimethod multistage screening procedure, the authors interviewed 201 parents and their children with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC 2.1). In addition, parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and other survey measures, while their children completed self-report scales. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were done to determine optimal cutpoints on the CBCL, referenced to DISC diagnostic "caseness." DISC diagnoses, DISC "stem" symptoms, CBCL scores, and CBCL ROC-outpoints were compared against "external validators," in order to determine the comparative advantages of each approach for assessing child psychopathology. Overall findings suggest that the controversies about "best" assessment strategies may be artificial: When both assessment approaches are compared using similar methods, they are reasonably comparable. However, highly specific diagnostic categories may show fewer relationships with external validators and may therefore need more systematic validational studies.
Jensen
P S
PS
Child & Adolescent Disorders Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland 20857, USA.
Watanabe
H K
HK
Richters
J E
JE
Roper
M
M
Hibbs
E D
ED
Salzberg
A D
AD
Liu
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008890:Military Psychiatry / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies