Children's symptom and social functioning self-report scales. Comparison of mothers' and children's reports

This paper reports on the testing of self-report scales, in a pilot study of 28 children with a psychiatrically ill parent. We examined the relationship between children's responses about themselves and mothers' responses about their children, on symptom and social functioning scales. The self-report scales administered to the children included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the Children's Depression Inventory, and the Social Adjustment Scale. The mothers completed the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist, the Conners Parent Questionnaire, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale about their children. Agreement between mothers and children on the assessment of the child was poor. Agreement was good across the scales used when the information was derived from the same informant. The implication of these results for epidemiological studies, particularly concerning dual informants, is discussed.