An outpatient/inpatient comparison of child psychiatric diagnosis.

A chart review was undertaken in three community mental health centers and an emergency room to compare psychiatric diagnoses given to youths as outpatients with those they had previously received as inpatients. Major disparities between the two sets of diagnoses were evident. A profound underdiagnosis of conduct disorder and a selective overdiagnosis of unipolar depression occurred in hospitals. Implications of the findings are discussed.