Parent-rating and self-report measures in the psychiatric assessment of adolescents.

Thirty adolescents who received a psychiatric diagnosis based on the DSM-III clinical criteria were compared to 28 adolescents who were free of a diagnosis using the same criteria, on a parent-completed questionnaire (Revised Behavior Problem Checklist) and self-report measures (Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, Children's Depression Inventory, SCL-90-R). The two groups of adolescents were significantly distinguished by scores from the parent questionnaire but not by self-report measures. Possible explanations for the discrepant results are discussed. It is concluded that the parent measure may be used to reliably distinguish adolescents with psychiatric disorders from those free of similar disorders.