The validity of the ADHD section of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children.
The DISC-IV ADHD interview is only modestly accurate—always gather extra data before you decide.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers checked if the ADHD section of the DISC-IV interview matches real ADHD.
They gave the interview to the kids . Some had ADHD, some did not.
They compared the interview answers to expert clinician ratings and to lab tests of attention.
What they found
The interview only partly agreed with the experts. It caught many kids with ADHD, but also called some typical kids ADHD.
Agreement was modest at best. The interview missed subtle cases and over-called others.
How this fits with other research
Lee et al. (2016) pooled many studies and showed ADHD hurts quality of life. Their work used DISC-IV diagnoses like this one, so the modest validity here may explain why some kids labeled ADHD had milder life impact.
Laposa et al. (2017) found working-memory tests also fail to sort ADHD from typical kids. Together, these papers warn that no single score—interview or cognitive—should decide the diagnosis.
Reus et al. (2013) showed that that ADHD symptoms can inflate autism-severity scores on similar parent interviews. This supports the idea that rater bias, not just the interview itself, limits accuracy.
Why it matters
Use the DISC-IV ADHD section as one clue, not the final word. Pair it with direct observation, teacher reports, and objective tests. This guards against both missing true ADHD and over-diagnosing typical kids.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the concurrent criterion validity of the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) portion of the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV (NIMHDISC-IV). Fifty-seven adolescent participants were divided into three groups on the basis of whether participants met criteria for ADHD on caretaker and adolescent responses on the DISC: (a) 18 participants for whom both the caretakers and adolescents endorsed ADHD, (b) 17 participants for whom the caretakers but not the youth endorsed ADHD, and (c) a clinical control group with no ADHD diagnosis (n = 22). These three groups were compared across parent, teacher, and adolescent checklists; clinician diagnosis; and three objective measures of behavior (continuous performance task, actigraphy monitoring, and a structured observation). Findings lend partial support to the concurrent criterion validity of the ADHD section of DISC.
Behavior modification, 2004 · doi:10.1177/0145445503258987