Citation

Joiner TE, Schmidt KL, Schmidt NB. J. Pers. Assess. 1996; 67(2): 258-271.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Society for Personality Assessment, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1207/s15327752jpa6702_3

PMID

8828188

Abstract

This study examined the low-end specificity of self-report measures of anxious and depressed symptoms among a clinical sample of 96 child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients (54 boys, 42 girls; ages 8 to 16; M = 12.34, SD = 2.43). To our knowledge, the study is one of the first to examine the issue in a clinical sample, and the first to address this issue in children and adolescents. Participants completed the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). As predicted, CDI low-end participants obtained higher RCMAS Lie scale scores than depressed participants, suggesting a tendency to deny symptoms and to attempt to appear in a favorable light. In contrast, but also consistent with prediction, low-end RCMAS participants did not obtain higher Lie scale scores than anxious participants. Gender and age did not moderate the findings in any way. Thus, our results support hypotheses that defensiveness would affect a self-report measure of depression but not a self-report measure of anxiety. Recommendations for addressing low-end specificity problems in both research and clinical work are discussed.

Language: en