Posted
December, 2010
Prediction
of Dutch Adults' Psychiatric Disorders from
CBCL Scores Obtained 24 Years Earlier
In 1983,
a representative general population sample of Dutch 4- to
16-year-olds was assessed with CBCLs completed by their parents.
The children were then reassessed periodically with the CBCL,
TRF, YSR, and other measures, culminating 24 years later with
the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and
three sections of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS),
when the participants were 28 to 40 years old (Reef et al.,
2010). Diagnoses of psychiatric disorders were based on participants'
reports of their functioning over the preceding 12 months.
Among the 1,339 participants who were interviewed 24 years
after their parents completed the CBCL, those whose initial
CBCL Total Problems scores exceeded the 85th percentile had
significantly elevated rates of disruptive disorders (Antisocial
Personality Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Attention
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). In addition, the following
DSM-oriented scales scored from the Time 1 CBCL significantly
predicted particular types of adult disorders, based on the
diagnostic interviews with the adult participants: CBCL Anxiety
Problems predicted adult anxiety disorders; CBCL Oppositional
Defiant Problems predicted adult mood disorders; and CBCL
Conduct Problems predicted both adult mood disorders and adult
disruptive disorders. The authors concluded that "Adult
psychiatrists should be aware of childhood predictors of later
psychopathology, because treatment of adult psychiatric disorders
may depend on different preceding childhood psychopathology"
(p. 1123).
Reference:
Reef, J., van Meurs, I., Verhulst, F.C., & van der
Ende, J. (2010). Children's problems predict adults' DSM-IV
disorders across 24 years. Journal of the American Academy
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 49, 1117-1124.
