Convergence of DSM-III diagnoses and self-reported symptoms in child and adolescent inpatients

A systematic study of the relationship between empirically-derived diagnoses and symptom patterns is reported in a sample of 160 preadolescents and adolescents consecutively admitted to a psychiatric inpatient setting. Results show that the DSM-III diagnoses generated using the child version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-C) were significantly associated with several factor analytically-derived symptom scales of the Achenbach and Edelbrock Youth Self-Report. The results included the finding of significant associations for conduct disorders with the delinquency scale, for affective disorders with the depressed scale, and for both affective and anxiety disorders with the broad-band internalizing scales. This study suggests implications about diagnostic categorizations and construct validity as well as implications for clinical evaluation.