THE DIAGNOSTIC INTERVIEW SCHEDULE FOR CHILDREN (DISC-2.1) IN SPANISH - RELIABILITY IN A HISPANIC POPULATION

The reliability across time, informants and interviewers of the Spanis h translation of the DISC-2.1 was tested on a Puerto Rican Hispanic sa mple using a test-retest design. Levels of reliability between clinic and community samples and between younger and older children were comp ared to explore the sources of low reliability for certain pyschiatric disorders. Parents' reports tended to be more reliable than those of their children, although the difference was less obvious with older ch ildren. Reliability was generally higher for the externalizing disorde rs and when the second interviewer was a psychiatrist rather than a la y interviewer.