Test-Retest Reliability of the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA).
OBJECTIVE
To examine the test-retest reliability of a new interviewer-based psychiatric diagnostic measure (the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment) for use with parents of preschoolers aged 2 to 5 years.


METHODS
A total of 1,073 parents of children attending a large pediatric clinic completed the Child Behavior Checklist 1 1/2-5. For 18 months, 193 parents of high scorers and 114 parents of low scorers were interviewed on two occasions an average of 11 days apart.


RESULTS
Estimates of diagnostic reliability were very similar to those obtained from interviews with parents of older children and adults, with kappas ranging from 0.36 to 0.79. Test-retest intraclass correlations for DSM-IV syndrome scale scores ranged from 0.56 to 0.89. There were no significant differences in reliability by age, sex, or race (African American versus non-African American).


CONCLUSIONS
The Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment provides a reasonably reliable standardized measure of DSM-IV psychiatric symptoms and disorders in preschoolers for use in both research and clinical service evaluations of preschoolers as young as 2 years old.
Egger
Helen Link
HL
Drs. Egger, Erkanli, Potts, and Angold and Mr. Keeler are with the Center for Developmental Epidemiology, and Dr. Walter is with the Department of Medical Psychology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. Electronic address: hegger@psych.mc.duke.edu.
Erkanli
Alaattin
A
Drs. Egger, Erkanli, Potts, and Angold and Mr. Keeler are with the Center for Developmental Epidemiology, and Dr. Walter is with the Department of Medical Psychology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
Keeler
Gordon
G
Drs. Egger, Erkanli, Potts, and Angold and Mr. Keeler are with the Center for Developmental Epidemiology, and Dr. Walter is with the Department of Medical Psychology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
Potts
Edward
E
Drs. Egger, Erkanli, Potts, and Angold and Mr. Keeler are with the Center for Developmental Epidemiology, and Dr. Walter is with the Department of Medical Psychology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
Walter
Barbara Keith
BK
Drs. Egger, Erkanli, Potts, and Angold and Mr. Keeler are with the Center for Developmental Epidemiology, and Dr. Walter is with the Department of Medical Psychology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
Angold
Adrian
A
Drs. Egger, Erkanli, Potts, and Angold and Mr. Keeler are with the Center for Developmental Epidemiology, and Dr. Walter is with the Department of Medical Psychology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015588:Observer Variation; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011599:Psychopathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results