Convergence and concurrent validity of DSM-III diagnoses and the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC).

Abstract

Psychiatric diagnoses and objective behaviour rating scales represent alternative means to describe children's psychological disorders. Results of several studies regarding the convergence of diagnoses and rating scales have been mixed, raising questions about the nature of the relation between the two systems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relations of DSM-III diagnoses and the parentinformant Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) within a sample of behaviourally disturbed children and adolescents. In addition, the ability of DSM-III diagnoses and the PIC to predict teacher and clinician behaviour ratings was compared. High proportions of children assigned specific DSM-HI diagnoses obtained elevated scores on related PIC scales, though the overlap was imperfect. Also, covariation of the teacher and clinician behaviour ratings was much stronger with the PIC than with DSM-III diagnoses. Implications of these findings for clinical practice with children are discussed. There are two major approaches to the classification of child psychological problems. Psychiatric diagnostic typologies such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III, American Psychiatric Association, 1980) represent the most traditional means of describing child mental health status. The major focus of this approach has been the delineation of syndromes (defined by specific symptom clusters), and the delineation of differential diagnostic criteria. A more recent approach has been characterized by statistical identification of dimensions of adjustment (typically using factor analysis), and the construction of objective rating scales to measure each behavioural dimension (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1978). This approach arose in part because of longstanding concern about low reliability and questionable external validity of diagnostic categories for children (e.g.

Intrapair differences in personality and cognitive ability among young monozygotic twins distinguished by chroion type

“…Our analyses address the hypothesis that MC-MZ twins show greater similarity than DC-MZ twins. (Ehly et al, 1986;Kline et aL, 1987), adequate concurrent validity with teacher and clinician behavior ratings of DSM-III diagnoses (Kline et aL, 1988), and adequate concurrent validity with other personality measures (Clark et al, 1987). Reliability studies of the PIC have demonstrated both internal consistency and test-retest reliability coefficients between .81 and .92, for the four factor scales (Lachar et al, 1982).…”

Psychometric assessment of psychiatric disorders in people with learning difficulties (mental handicap): a review of measures

“…Although adequate convergence between checklist scores and psychiatric diagnoses has been reported in the literature relating to child psychiatry (e.g. Edelbrock & Costell, 1988;Kline et al 1988), no such data were identified in studies of people with learning difficulties. We recommend that future studies assess the reliability of psychiatric diagnoses and that the convergence of psychiatric diagnoses and checklists scores be investigated.…”