Objective: To investigate whether parent-teacher disagreement regarding the presence of psychopathology predicts poor outcome in children who have been referred to mental health services
Methods: A total of 532 6- to 12-year-old children who had been referred to an outpatient department for child and adolescent psychiatry were followed up across an average period of 6.3 years. At initial assessment, standardized parent and teacher ratings of the child's psychopathology were obtained with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher's Report form (TRF). At follow-up, indices of poor outcome were assessed.
Results: Several CBCL and TRF scale scores predicted poor outcome. Discrepancies between CBCL and TRF scores were not useful as additional predictors. Some additive effects were found; future police/judicial contacts and disciplinary problems in school were predicted by CBCL and TRF scores.
Conclusions: The findings underscored the need for information from different informants in clinical practice. However, discrepancies between parent and teacher ratings do not predict outcome, and should not alert clinicians.