The Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS) is a comprehensive observational system for conduct problem families. Ss were 22 families referred for treatment of a conduct problem child (2-7 yrs of age) and 22 normal families observed in the laboratory in child-directed and parent-directed interactions. The conduct problem children displayed higher rates of noncompliance than normal children, and their parents were more critical and directive than normal parents. Both the referred child and its sibling exhibited behavior problems in conduct problem families, but the referred child was deviant in a greater variety of situations than the sibling. The DPICS was a reliable, clinically practical, research instrument that correctly classified 94% of families and predicted 61% of the variance in parent report of home behavior problems. The effectiveness of this brief procedure may be attributable to the structure of the clinic observation situations, which varied in degree of parental control.

Child Study Lab
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology
University of Florida
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Last updated: March 07, 2006.