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Are children reliable reporters?

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Abstract

Fifty children, ranging in age from 6 to 16 years, and their mothers were interviewed using the same structured interview, which in its content follows the usual psychiatric examination of a child. Their answers were compared and it was found that there was an 80% average agreement on all questions. The agreement (between child and parent) was highest on questions relating to factual information (84%) and the agreement (between child's interviewer and parent) was lowest in the section dealing with mental status (69%). Girls were more reliable informants than boys.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington University, USA

    Barbara Herjanic, Marijan Herjanic, Freeman Brown & Theotis Wheatt

Authors
  1. Barbara Herjanic
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  2. Marijan Herjanic
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  3. Freeman Brown
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  4. Theotis Wheatt
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Additional information

This study was supported in part by NIMH Grant MH 05938.

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Herjanic, B., Herjanic, M., Brown, F. et al. Are children reliable reporters?. J Abnorm Child Psychol 3, 41–48 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916029

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916029

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