Parent-child correspondence in identification of firesetting among child psychiatric patients.

This study examined parent-child correspondence in assessing characteristics and correlates of the child's firesetting. Two-hundred and ninety-seven families (164 outpatients and 133 inpatients) were independently interviewed using questions modified from the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-age Children. Parent-child correspondence for the presence or absence of individual behaviors and firesetting correlates was generally moderate-to-high for both samples, with outpatient families showing higher parent-child agreement in classifying the child's firesetting status. Few differences in correspondence due to child age or sex were found. The results are discussed in terms of the clinical assessment of firesetting and other antisocial behaviors and the role of child reports in case identification.