Concurrent Validity of the Child Behavior Checklist DSM-Oriented Scales: Correspondence with DSM Diagnoses and Comparison to Syndrome Scales

This study used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methodology and discriminative analyses to examine the correspondence of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) rationally-derived DSM-oriented scales and empirically-derived syndrome scales with clinical diagnoses in a clinic-referred sample of children and adolescents (N = 476). Although results demonstrated that the CBCL Anxiety, Affective, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity, Oppositional and Conduct Problems DSM-oriented scales corresponded significantly with related clinical diagnoses derived from parent-based structured interviews, these DSM-oriented scales did not evidence significantly greater correspondence with clinical diagnoses than the syndrome scales in all cases but one. The DSM-oriented Anxiety Problems scale was the only scale that evidenced significantly greater correspondence with diagnoses above its syndrome scale counterpart —the Anxious/Depressed scale. The recently developed and rationally-derived DSM-oriented scales thus generally do not add incremental clinical utility above that already afforded by the syndrome scales with respect to corresponding with diagnoses. Implications of these findings are discussed

Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) Study: Background, Design, and Initial Screening Results

To describe the design of a longitudinal study of youth with elevated symptoms of mania (ESM) as well as the prevalence and correlates of manic symptoms. Bipolar disorder in youth is serious and is surrounded by controversy about its phenomenology, course and treatment. Yet, there are no longitudinal studies of youth selected only for ESM, the phenomenological hallmark. The study’s objective is to document the rate and sociodemographic correlates of ESM in children attending outpatient psychiatric clinics

The 24-month course of manic symptoms in children

The Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) study was designed to investigate phenomenology and establish predictors of functional outcomes in children with elevated manic symptoms. The purpose of this series of analyses was to determine whether the participants demonstrated different trajectories of parent-reported manic and biphasic symptoms over the first 24 months of follow-up and to describe the clinical characteristics of the trajectories

Diagnostic efficiency of the CASI-4 ADHD subscales in the LAMS studY:a ROC analysis

Objectives: We tested the diagnostic efficiency of the DSM-oriented Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory (CASI-4) ADHD symptom subscales for screening ADHD Combined, Hyperactive-impulsive and Inattentive subtype in a pediatric outpatient sample. Methods: Participants were 707 first-time utilizer at nine outpatient mental health clinics aged 6.0-12.9 years (M = 9.36, SD = 1.90) who completed the baseline Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms study assessments. Consensus diagnoses were based on KSADS interviews of both youth and caregivers. Caregivers completed the CASI-4 ADHD subscales Inattention, Hyperactivity and Combined as predictors. To maximize clinical utility we report diagnostic likelihood ratios (DLRs). Results: Using receiver operating characteristic analysis, the Area under the Curve (AUC) for the Combined subscale was .79 (95 % CI .78 - .81) for screening ADHD-Combined. CASI-4 Hyperactivity subscale AUCs for screening ADHD-Hyperactive-impulsive and ADHD-Combined were .70 (95 % CI .66 - .76) and .82 (95 % CI .80- .84) respectively. CASI-4 Inattentive subscales AUCs for screening ADHD-Inattentive and ADHD-Combined were .77 (95 % CI .74 - .79) and .71 (95 % CI .69 - .73). ROC curve tests comparisons will be provided. A cut score of 40 + was identified as the optimal threshold (DLR of 3.7) for screening ADHD-Combined with the CASI-4 Combined in children ages 6-13 seen in outpatient settings. Conclusions: CASI-4 ADHD subscales are clinically useful to screen for ADHD symptoms in children because of their brevity and economy. However, clinicians should be cautious when interpreting results and should include other data to reach an accurate diagnosis