Rules for making psychiatric diagnoses in children on the basis of multiple sources of information: Preliminary strategies

Inherent in the structured diagnostic interviewing of children is the problem of how to resolve differences between the child's own report and that of the parent about the child. A related problem concerns the use of outside source of information about the child, such as information from the teacher. In this study, the authors review the decision-making process used in the assignment of summary psychiatric diagnoses based on the child and parent reports, as well as a number of other sources of information about the child. Provisional rules for making summary diagnoses of children are presented.This research was supported by NIAAA Center Grant Number AA-03539, and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Network III on Risk and Protective Factors in the Major Mental Disorders.