Features of interview questions associated with attenuation of symptom reports

Previous studies have suggested that discrepant reporting in a test-retest reliability paradigm is not purely random measurement error, but partly a f unction of a systematic tendency to say "no" during retest to questions ans wered positively at initial testing ("attenuation"). To examine features of interview questions that may be associated with attenuation, three raters independently assessed the structural and content features of questions fro m the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (version 2.3) and linked t hese to data from a test-retest reliability study of 223 community responde nts (parent and child reports). Results indicated that for both parent and youth reports, item features most strongly associated with attenuation were (a) being a "stem" question (asked of all respondents, regardless of any s kip structure); (b) question placement in the first half of the interview; (c) question length; (d) question complexity; or (e) requiring assessment o f the timing, duration, or frequency of a symptom. Findings may be explaine d by participants' conscious efforts to avoid further questions or by their learning more about the nature and purpose of the interview as they gain m ore experience; alternatively, findings may represent a methodological arti fact of structured interview design.