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Reliability of Psychiatric Diagnosis in Referred Adolescents
Author(s) -
Rey Joseph M.,
Plapp Jon M.,
Stewart Gavin W.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00289.x
Subject(s) - medical diagnosis , dysthymic disorder , psychology , kappa , anxiety , cohen's kappa , psychiatry , reliability (semiconductor) , clinical psychology , inter rater reliability , adjustment disorders , anxiety disorder , psychometrics , rating scale , developmental psychology , medicine , major depressive disorder , cognition , linguistics , philosophy , power (physics) , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , machine learning , computer science
The authors report a reliability study of the DSM‐III diagnostic system in a series of 393 adolescent referrals diagnosed by two clinicians over a period of 3 years. Overall reliability (kappa) was 0.59. However, most of the frequently used diagnoses had reliabilities of 0.7 or higher. Dysthymic, Adjustment, Overanxious and Avoidant Disorders showed poor diagnostic agreement (kappa below 0.4). The patterns of agreement across this and other studies suggest that diagnostir criteria for Affective, Anxiety and Adjustment Disorders arc in need of further improvement.