The parent interview for child symptoms: a situation-specific clinical research interview for attention-deficit hyperactivity and related disorders.

OBJECTIVE To describe the properties of a semistructured research interview of parents designed to evaluate attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related psychopathology. METHOD We examined interrater reliability in 48 videotaped interviews randomly selected from a large clinic sample. We examined convergence of the Parent Interview for Child Symptoms (PICS) and Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) scores in 594 clinic-referred cases and 26 control subjects, comparing the groups generated by cross-tabulation on measures of intelligence, academic achievement, and inhibitory control. RESULTS Intraclass correlation coefficients for symptom scores of ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) were excellent. We found good reliability for diagnoses of ADHD (e = 0.73) and CD (kappa = 0.73) and excellent reliability for the diagnosis of ODD (kappa = 0.80). Two-thirds of cases were classified similarly on the PICS and the CPRS. Greater impairment in inhibitory control was observed in cases identified as ADHD by the PICS, compared with those identified by the CPRS-ADHD index. CONCLUSIONS The PICS displays good reliability and validity, indicating that a balance between clinical applicability and reliability can be achieved in the development of clinical research instruments.