Prognostic value of parent-adolescent disagreement in a referred sample

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2006 Mar;15(3):156-62. doi: 10.1007/s00787-005-0518-z. Epub 2006 Jan 19.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether parent-adolescent disagreement regarding reports on adolescents' psychopathology indicates a poor prognosis.

Methods: A total of 151 11- to 18-year-olds who had been assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Youth Self-Report (YSR) at referral to an outpatient psychiatry clinic were followed up. At follow-up, 4.3 years later, signs of poor outcome were assessed.

Findings: Discrepancies between CBCL and YSR scores predicted future disciplinary problems at school, police/judicial contacts, and drug use.

Conclusions: To determine the prognosis of psychopathology in adolescents who are referred to mental health services, discrepancies between parents and adolescents may be useful. Given the relatively large number of statistical comparisons (n = 16) that was needed to obtain these results, future studies are needed to test if the results are robust across different settings.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Ambulatory Care
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / epidemiology
  • Attitude to Health*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Mental Disorders / psychology*
  • Mental Disorders / therapy
  • Observer Variation
  • Parent-Child Relations*
  • Parents*
  • Prognosis
  • Referral and Consultation* / statistics & numerical data
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Social Alienation
  • Surveys and Questionnaires