Informant-based determinants of symptom attenuation in structured child psychiatric interviews

Informant-related determinants of item attenuation, that is, the drop-off i n symptom endorsement rates at retest, were examined in an enriched communi ty subsample of 245 parent-child pairs drawn from the National Institute of Mental Health Methods for Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Diso rders Study. Youngsters and their parents were interviewed with the Diagnos tic Interview Schedule for Children (Version 2.3; DISC-2.3) on two occasion s with a mean test-retest interval of 12 days. Item attenuation rates were high for both informants;with adults failing to confirm 42% and children 58 % of baseline responses at retest. Stepwise regressions revealed that item attenuation at DISC-P retest was higher for adult informants who were young er, and who reported on older and less impaired children. On the DISC-C, at tenuation was higher for children who were less impaired, rated as doing wo rse in school, and who had a longer test-retest interval. These results are broadly consistent with past studies examining the determinants of attenua tion and test-retest reliability and have implications for the design and u se of structured diagnostic instruments.