title: Informant agreement in the assessment of disruptive behavior disorders in detained minors in Belgium: a diagnosis-level and symptom-level examination.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because diagnostic assessment of children emphasizes information from multiple informants, the reliability of findings in detained and incarcerated samples may be hampered. The objective of the current study was to examine parent-child agreement with regard to disruptive behavior disorders (with or without impairment) and disorder-related symptoms in detained male youths.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 2005 and February 2007, a representative sample of 150 detainees, 12 to 17 years old, from the 3 Youth Detention Centers for boys in Flanders, Belgium, and 1 parent of each were interviewed with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Version IV (DISC-IV). Interviewees were selected consecutively on the basis of Belgian origin for practical, financial, and time-related reasons. Of the 150 participants, 9 were excluded and the parents of 26 could not be included for various reasons, and thus full data were obtained for 115 parents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall poor parent-child agreement at the disorder and symptom level was found, which is consistent with previous studies. Parents reported significantly more unique information on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (p < .001) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (p < .001), while youths reported significantly more unique conduct disorder (CD)-related information (p = .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The large proportion of parents uniquely reporting ADHD and ODD supports previous concerns about the reliability of self-reported ADHD and ODD and suggests an essential contribution by parents to the accurate assessment of these disorders in adolescent detainees. With regard to CD, it may be appropriate to rely on youth self-report.
authors.affiliation: Department of Special Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. olivier.colins@ugent.be
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Colins
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vermeiren
authors.forename: Gilberte
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schuyten
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Broekaert
authors.forename: Veerle
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Soyez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010290:Parents; D015995:Prevalence; D011329:Prisoners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index