Citation

Salcedo S, Chen YL, Youngstrom EA, Fristad MA, Gadow KD, Horwitz SM, Frazier TW, Arnold LE, Phillips ML, Birmaher B, Kowatch RA, Findling RL. J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol. 2018; 47(5): 832-846.

Affiliation

i Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences , Johns Hopkins University and Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15374416.2017.1280807

PMID

28278596

Abstract

This study examined the diagnostic and clinical utility of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-4 R (CASI-4 R) Depressive and Dysthymia subscale for detecting mood disorders in youth (ages 6-12; M = 9.37) visiting outpatient mental health clinics. Secondary analyses (N = 700) utilized baseline data from the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms study. Semistructured interviews with youth participants and their parents/caregivers determined psychiatric diagnoses. Caregivers and teachers completed the CASI-4 R. CASI-4 R depressive symptom severity and symptom count scores each predicted mood disorder diagnoses. Both caregiver scores (symptom severity and symptom count) of the CASI-4 R subscale significantly identified youth mood disorders (areas under the curve [AUCs] = .78-.79, ps < .001). The symptom severity version showed a small but significant advantage. Teacher symptom severity report did not significantly predict mood disorder diagnosis (AUC = .56, p > .05), whereas the teacher symptom count report corresponded to a small effect size (AUC = .61, p < .05). The CASI-4 R Depression scale showed strong incrememental validity even controlling for the other CASI-4 R scales. Caregiver subscale cutoff scores were calculated to assist in ruling in (diagnostic likelihood ratio [DLR] = 3.73) or ruling out (DLR = 0.18) presence of a mood disorder. The CASI-4 R Depressive subscale caregiver report can help identify youth mood disorders, and using DLRs may help improve diagnostic accuracy.

Language: en