The MacArthur Three-City Outcome Study: evaluating multi-informant measures of young children's symptomatology.
OBJECTIVE
Three sites collaborated to evaluate the reliability and validity of 2 measures, developed in tandem to assess symptomatology and impairment in 4- to 8-year-old children: the Berkeley Puppet Interview Symptomatology Scales (BPI-S) and the Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ).


METHODS
In this case-control study, mothers, teachers, and children reported on multiple dimensions of children's mental health for 120 children (67 community and 53 clinic-referred children).


RESULTS
The BPI-S and the parent and teacher versions of the HBQ demonstrated strong test-retest reliability and discriminant validity on a majority of symptom scales. Medium to strong effect sizes (Cohen d) indicated that children in the clinic-referred group were viewed by all 3 informants as experiencing significantly higher levels of symptomatology than nonreferred, community children.


CONCLUSIONS
The availability of a set of multi-informant instruments that are psychometrically sound, developed in tandem, and developmentally appropriate for young children will enhance researchers' ability to investigate and understand symptomatology or the emergence of symptomatology in middle childhood.
Ablow
J C
JC
Stanford University Medical Center, CA, USA. jcablow@oregon.uoregon.edu
Measelle
J R
JR
Kraemer
H C
HC
Harrington
R
R
Luby
J
J
Smider
N
N
Dierker
L
L
Clark
V
V
Dubicka
B
B
Heffelfinger
A
A
Essex
M J
MJ
Kupfer
D J
DJ
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires