Resumo

ROCHA, Marina Monzani da; FERRARI, Rafaela Almeida  e  SILVARES, Edwiges Ferreira de Mattos. Agreement patterns between multiple informants in adolescents' behavioral assessment: clinical implications. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2011, vol.11, n.3, pp. 948-964. ISSN 1808-4281.

A comprehensive assessment includes information obtained with multiple informants, including the adolescent himself, who offers a unique perspective of the case. In order to verify agreement patterns between parents and youths on the assessment of behavioral problems, and to discuss the clinical implications of the differences, the self-report of 66 adolescents referred for psychological treatment, on the YSR, was compared with the parents' report of their children's behavior, on the CBCL. Parents reported more behavioral problems in terms of scores and in number of clinical cases identified by the instruments. The possible reasons for the higher agreement found between informants on the Externalizing Problems scale is discussed, as well as the clinical implications of the differences. It is concluded that the use of multiple informants on the assessment process is important, regardless of the divergences, because knowing behaviors in different contexts is crucial to elaborate complete diagnostics and adequate interventions.

Palavras-chave : Psychological evaluation; Multiple informants; Adolescent.