Test-retest reliability of anxiety symptoms and diagnoses with the anxietydisorders interview schedule for DSM-IV: Child and parent versions

Objective: To examine the test-retest reliability of the DSM-IV anxiety sym ptoms and disorders in children with the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedu le for DSM-IV: Child and Parent Versions (ADIS for DSM-IV:C/P). Method: Six ty-two children (aged 7-16 years) and their parents underwent two administr ations of the ADIS for DSM-IV:C/P with a test-retest interval of 7 to 14 da ys. Results and Conclusions: Results revealed that the ADIS for DSM-IV:C/P is a reliable instrument for deriving DSM-IV anxiety disorder symptoms and diagnoses in children. The ADIS for DSM-IV:C/P was found to have excellent reliability in symptom scale scores for separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder and good to exce llent reliability for deriving combined diagnoses of these disorders, as we ll as using child-only and parent-only interview information. Reliability c oefficients were generally similar and, in most instances, superior to thos e found in previous ADIS-C/P reliability studies. Limitations and direction s for future research are discussed.