DSM-Ill Diagnoses and Offenses in Committed Female Juvenile Delinquents

The relationship between juvenile delinquency and psychiatric disorders remains poorly understood. However, it is becoming more apparent that the spectrum of psychiatric illness present in juvenile delinquents is broader than once believed. Fifteen female juvenile delinquents committed to a residential treatment program were assessed for DSM-Ill diagnoses, using a structured diagnostic interview, the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA). A search of the literature revealed no other reports using the DICA in female juvenile delinquents. A broad spectrum of current and past diagnoses was discovered, including conduct disorder (10O0/0), substance abuse/dependence (87%), major depression (67%), and anxiety disorders (47%). The average number of lifetime diagnoses per subject was 4.7; current diagnoses averaged 3.4 per subject. Additionally, criminal and status offense records were obtained for each subject. No significant relationship was noted between diagnoses and categories of offense. These results add further evidence for the presence of frequent and severe psychiatric disturbances in this population, and the need for increased clinical and research efforts by the psychiatric community. The boundaries between psychiatric illness and the terms conduct disorder and delinquency remain poorly understood. Lewis er ul.' noted that the diagnosis of conduct disorder encompasses a multiplicity of signs and symptoms characteristic of other psychiatric disorders, and that often the difference between psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents and found that the psychopathology in a sample of delinquent and nondelinquent psychiatrically hospitalized adolescent boys was similarly severe. and that at one time the majority of the delinquents had been regarded as severely psychiatrically disturbed. These two reports point out the presence of multiple and serious psychiatric symptoms in youth with antisocial behavior. yet the investigators' reliance on past records to generate their data bases and the lack of a standard diagnostic classification system precluded the identification of valid and reliable psychiatri