PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN AS INFORMANTS IN CHILD-PSYCHIATRY EPIDEMIOLOGY WITH THE SPANISH DIAGNOSTIC INTERVIEW SCHEDULE FOR CHILDREN (DISC.2)

Parent and child reports were examined to study how epidemiological re searchers can best use the information provided to describe childhood psychopathology. As part of a multisite methodologic study of mental d isorders in children, a probability sample (N = 248) of children aged 9 to 17 years from the San Juan metropolitan area was selected. This s ample was enriched with 74 clinic cases. Both parents and children wer e administered the DISC.2. Results showed that prevalence estimates we re influenced by the informant The clinicians' diagnosis is more conco rdant with children's reports of depression and with parents' reports of disruptive disorders. Parents and children provided unique informat ion when interviewed with a structured psychiatric interview about chi ld psychopathology. Their unique perspectives contributed to the obser ved discordance that emerged when DISC parent and DISC child results a re compared. Combining the two perspectives with a simple