RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF PARENT AND TEACHER RATINGS OF ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER SYMPTOMS

The reliability and criterion-related validity of the Home and School versions of the AD/HD Rating Scale-IV were evaluated in a nonreferred sample of 71 students. Parent and teacher ratings were obtained 4 week s apart at a time contemporaneous with observations of classroom behav ior and academic productivity. Results indicated adequate levels of in ternal consistency, test-retest reliability, and cross-informant agree ment for both parent and teacher ratings. Teacher ratings were signifi cantly correlated with classroom observational data, and parent rating s were primarily related to behavior ratings. The discriminant validit y of these scales also vias examined in a sample of 92 clinic-referred children. Both the Home and School versions of the AD/HD Rating Scale -IV were found to discriminate significantly between children with and without AD/HD. The AD/HD Rating Scale-IV appears to have adequate psy chometric properties for the screening and assessment of AD/HD.