Compares the types and rates of psychiatric symptoms between Central American and Cambodian refugees and examines the extent to which parents and children agree on reported symptoms. This transcultural study involved surveys of grade school and high school students living on the Island of Montreal, Canada. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to elicit information about psychiatric problems and focused on the Internalizing score, the sum of scores on items in the Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints, and Anxious/Depressed syndrome profiles, and the Externalizing score, the sum of scores on the Delinquent and Aggressive syndromes profiles. Findings revealed that all Internalizing and Externalizing scores were higher for the Central American sample than for the Cambodian sample. Cambodian high school students had higher mean Internalizing and Externalizing scores than those obtained from their parents, whereas Central American high school students had higher Externalizing scores than those obtained from their parents. Comparison of parent-child agreement revealed distinct patterns: among Central Americans, there was greater agreement between mothers and children than between fathers and children, but among Cambodians, the reverse was true. Study results reinforce the need for multiple informants at the research level as well as in clinical practice.
