PARENT-CHILD AGREEMENT IN CLINICAL-ASSESSMENT OF ANXIETY AND OTHER PSYCHOPATHOLOGY - A REVIEW

It is standard clinical practice to interview both parent and child to formulate children's psychiatric diagnoses. This paper reviews the literature on parent-child agreement. Although many studies have appeared, only a few report on anxiety disorders. On the whole, there is poor agreement between children and parents. This finding raises the question as to which is more valid. To date, no investigation has addressed the issue of relative validity. Given the discrepancy between informants, and the lack of knowledge concerning which is the more accurate source, it seems desirable to obtain diagnostic information from both children and parents to assess children's anxiety symptoms. © 1991.