Maternal distress and discrepancy in reports of psychopathology in chronically ill children.

This article focuses on the relation between maternal distress and mother-child discrepancy in reports of child psychopathology, as assessed by a standardized structured interview. The sample includes 92 chronically ill children (mean age +/- SD = 12.5 +/- 2.7 years). Agreement between mother and child on the presence of any child psychiatric diagnosis was low. Maternal distress was correlated with the number of disorders identified by the mother but not with those identified by the child. Maternal distress was significantly higher in the mothers who identified a disorder but whose children did not. Choice of informant and maternal distress are significant factors in the evaluation of psychopathology.