A longitudinal look at parent-child diagnostic agreement in youth treated for anxiety disorders

This study examined diagnostic agreement between children and their parents for seventy 9- to 13-year-olds (45 boys and 25 girls) who had received cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. Parent-child diagnostic rates and agreements for generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social phobia were evaluated at 3 time points: pretreatment, posttreatment, and 7.4-year follow-up. Results indicate that parent-child diagnostic agreement was typically poor to moderate (kappa = -.03 to .64) and that estimates of agreement remained relatively unchanged (a) following treatment and (b) as the children enter adolescence and young adulthood. Parent-daughter agreement was better than parent-son agreement in some cases. Although it remains unclear whether parent or child diagnostic information is most accurate, positive treatment outcome appears to be possible despite poor parent-child diagnostic agreement.