Videotape Reliability of the Third Revised Edition of the K-SADS

Videotaped interrater reliability was assessed with the K-SADS-III-R on 25 children with a mean age of 10:9. Kappa statistics were computed in syndromes with a frequency rate of at least 20%. The following mean kappas were obtained: major depression = 0.83; overanxious disorder = 0.85; separation anxiety = 0.85; simple phobic disorder = 0.64; oppositional disorder = 0.89; attention deficit disorder = 0.88. The mean kappa for mother derived diagnoses was 0.86; for child derived diagnoses 0.79; and, for all diagnoses combined 0.84. These reliability findings are comparable to reports with similar methodology in the child literature. The improved kappas for the anxiety disorders achieved a primary goal for this revision of the K-SADS. This study has shown that the K-SADS-III-R has sufficient reliability for research purposes.