CONCORDANCE OF MOTHER AND TEACHER RATINGS FOR DSM-IV CRITERIA OF DISTRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR DISORDERS

Discussion:

If only one informant queried, the child would be less likely to recieve the diagnosis of ADHD combined subtype. These findings raise important questions about the crossinformant reliability of ADHD subtypes. This suggests that diagnosis of ADHD must be based on data from several informants.

Results:

There was a high agreement between mothers’ and teachers’ reports for attention deficit symptoms. Although not statistically significant, mothers reported more hyperactivity symptoms (81.3% vs 71.9%) and reported more oppositional defiant disorder symptoms (67.2% vs 60.9%) than teachers. However, teachers reported more conduct disorder symptoms than mothers (25% vs 21.9%). There was a statistical difference between the clinical diagnosis and the mothers'-teachers' reports. Among 53 children ADHD combined type according to clinical diagnosis were ADHD predominantly hyperactive-impulsive subtype according to mothers (17.2%, n:11) and ADHD predominantly inattentive subtype according to teachers (21.9%, n:14).

Method:

This study was conducted between May 1999 and May 2001 in Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty Child Psychiatry out-patient unit on 64 children with ADHD. Turgay DSM-IV Based Disruptive Behavior Disorders Screening and Rating Scale were completed by mothers and teachers of children with ADHD. The diagnosis of other disruptive behavior disorders and subtypes of ADHD were assessed according to DSM-IV.

Objective:

The purpose of this study is to examine the concordance for DSM-IV criteria of ADHD and other disruptive behavior disorders in home and school settings, the differences between reports of mothers and teachers about DSM-IV symptoms and the concordance of mothers’ and teachers’ reports and clinical diagnosis.