Test-retest reliability of the Chinese version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-Version 4 (DISC-IV)

Despite the huge youth population, there is a lack of psychiatric diagnostic instruments with reported psychometric properties in Chinese. This study reports the development of the Chinese version of DISC-IV and examines its test-retest reliability.

Seventy-eight parents and 79 youths (mean age 13.1 years) attending child psychiatric clinics were interviewed twice using the Chinese DISC-IV (Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV) about 22 days apart.

The kappa coefficients were good to excellent for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) (both youth (Y) and parent (P) versions), major depressive disorder (MDD) (P), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (P); fair for anxiety disorder (P), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (P, Y), MDD (Y); but poor for anxiety disorder (Y) and ADHD (Y). Parent informants had better test-retest reliability than youth informants.

The Chinese DISC-IV had comparable test-retest reliability with the original English version.