PREDICTORS OF CROSS-INFORMANT SYNDROMES AMONG CHILDREN AND YOUTHS REFERRED FOR MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES

This study sought to identify which syndromes of initial problems pred icted later syndromes among children and youths referred for mental he alth services. Standardized parent reports on the Child Behavior Check list obtained at intake were compared to standardized parent, teacher, and self-reports obtained at follow-up. There were 1,103 subjects (77 4 males and 329 females) 4 to 18 years old, followed up ail average of 6 years after referral High quantitative and categorical stability wa s found for cross-informant syndromes within samples of younger and ol der subjects. Throughout childhood and into young adulthood parent rat ings of most syndromes at the time of referral predicted the counterpa rt cross-informant syndrome construct at follow-up, controlling for ot her types of problems at referral. There were multiple additional inde pendent predictors of many syndromes, including Delinquent Behavior, A ggressive Behavior, and Shows Off for young adult males. Time I Social Problems and Attention Problems independently predicted diverse probl ems at Time 2 for younger males. A wide variety of problems also predi cted younger males' self-ratings of withdrawal, anxiety, and depressio n. The stability of problems for the referred sample was similar to th at found for demographically matched nonreferred subjects drawn from a national sample.