Adrian Angold

Somatic complaints and psychopathology in children and adolescents: stomach aches, musculoskeletal pains, and headaches.

OBJECTIVE To examine the associations of somatic complaints with DSM-III-R-defined depression, anxiety disorders, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in a population-based sample of children and adolescents. METHODS Data from 4 annual waves of interviews with 9- to 16-year-olds from the Great Smoky Mountains Study were analyzed. RESULTS Overall, somatic complaints were strongly associated with emotional disorders in girls and with disruptive behavior disorders in boys. For girls, stomach aches and headaches together and musculoskeletal pains alone were associated with anxiety disorders. For boys, stomach aches were associated with oppositional defiant disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Musculoskeletal pains were associated with depression in both girls and boys. CONCLUSIONS There were gender-, illness- and complaint-specific associations between somatic complaints and psychopathology. It appears likely that there are differences in the psychobiological processes underlying these associations in boys and girls. Clinical recommendations include screening children and adolescents with persistent complaints of headaches, stomach aches, or musculoskeletal pains for psychiatric disorders with an awareness that gender may affect the type of psychopathology associated with the somatic complaints.

Puberty and depression: the roles of age, pubertal status and pubertal timing

BACKGROUND Previous work has indicated that the 2:1 female:male sex ratio in unipolar depressive disorders does not emerge until some time between ages 10 and 15. METHODS Data from four annual waves of data collection from the Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS) involving children aged nine to 16 were employed. RESULTS Pubertal status better predicted the emergence of the expected sex ratio than did age. Only after the transition to mid-puberty (Tanner Stage III and above) were girls more likely than boys to be depressed. The timing of this transition had no effect on depression rates. Before Tanner Stage III, boys had higher rates of depression than girls, and the prevalence of depression appeared to fall in boys at an earlier pubertal stage than that at which it began to rise in girls. In addition, recent transition to Tanner Stage III or higher had a transient effect in reducing the prevalence of depression in boys. CONCLUSIONS The period of emergence of increased risk for depression in adolescent girls appears to be a relatively sharply demarcated developmental transition occurring in mid-puberty. Previously reported effects of the timing of puberty (which have tended to be transient) appeared less important in increase of risk for depression than pubertal status.

Scales to assess child and adolescent depression: checklists, screens, and nets.

Abstract Child self-report and parent-report measures of depressive symptoms are useful both for preliminary screening and to monitor change in symptomatology. These two aims, however, demand different psychometric properties. Currently available self- and/or parent-reports of depressive symptoms are reviewed in terms of their content validity and criterion validity. There is wide variability in the symptoms covered by the Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC), Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS), Childrens Depression Scale (CDS), and Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ). A review of criterion validity showed that information needed is often unavailable. Suggestions are made for ways to provide information that will enable clinicians and researchers to select measures for their purposes.

Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders as Predictors of Young Adult Disorders

CONTEXT Most adults with a psychiatric disorder first met diagnostic criteria during childhood and/or adolescence, yet specific homotypic and heterotypic patterns of prediction have not been firmly established. OBJECTIVE To establish which childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders predict particular young adult disorders when accounting for comorbidities, disaggregating similar disorders, and examining childhood and adolescent predictors separately. DESIGN Eleven waves of data from the prospective population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study (N = 1420) were used. SETTING The Great Smoky Mountains Study is a longitudinal study of the development of psychiatric disorder and need for mental health services in rural and urban youth. A representative sample of children was recruited from 11 counties in western North Carolina. PARTICIPANTS Children in the community aged 9 to 16, 19, and 21 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Common psychiatric disorders were assessed in childhood (ages 9-12 years) and adolescence (ages 13-16 years) with the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment and in young adulthood (ages 19 and 21 years) with the Young Adult Psychiatric Assessment. RESULTS Adolescent depression significantly predicted young adult depression in the bivariate analysis, but this effect was entirely accounted for by comorbidity of adolescent depression with adolescent oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety, and substance disorders in adjusted analyses. Generalized anxiety and depression cross-predicted each other, and oppositional defiant disorder (but not conduct disorder) predicted later anxiety disorders and depression. Evidence of homotypic prediction was supported for substance use disorders, antisocial personality disorder (from conduct disorder), and anxiety disorders, although this effect was primarily accounted for by DSM-III-R overanxious disorder. CONCLUSIONS Stringent tests of homotypic and heterotypic prediction patterns suggest a more developmentally and diagnostically nuanced picture in comparison with the previous literature. The putative link between adolescent and young adult depression was not supported. Oppositional defiant disorder was singular in being part of the developmental history of a wide range of young adult disorders.

Pubertal changes in hormone levels and depression in girls

BACKGROUND Throughout their reproductive years, women suffer from a higher prevalence of depression than men. Before puberty, however, this is not the case. In an earlier study, we found that reaching Tanner Stage III of puberty was associated with increased levels of depression in girls. This paper examines whether the morphological changes associated with puberty (as measured by Tanner stage) or the hormonal changes underlying them are more strongly associated with increased rates of depression in adolescent girls. METHODS Data from three annual waves of interviews with 9 to 15-year-olds from the Great Smoky Mountains study were analysed. RESULTS Models including the effects of testosterone and oestradiol eliminated the apparent effect of Tanner stage. The effect of testosterone was non-linear. FSH and LH had no effects on the probability of being depressed. CONCLUSIONS These findings argue against theories that explain the emergence of the female excess of depression in adulthood in terms of changes in body morphology and their resultant psychosocial effects on social interactions and self-perception. They suggest that causal explanations of the increase in depression in females need to focus on factors associated with changes in androgen and oestrogen levels rather than the morphological changes of puberty.

Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence

IMPORTANCE Both bullies and victims of bullying are at risk for psychiatric problems in childhood, but it is unclear if this elevated risk extends into early adulthood. OBJECTIVE To test whether bullying and/or being bullied in childhood predicts psychiatric problems and suicidality in young adulthood after accounting for childhood psychiatric problems and family hardships. DESIGN Prospective, population-based study. SETTING Community sample from 11 counties in Western North Carolina. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1420 participants who had being bullied and bullying assessed 4 to 6 times between the ages of 9 and 16 years. Participants were categorized as bullies only, victims only, bullies and victims (hereafter referred to as bullies/victims), or neither. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Psychiatric outcomes, which included depression, anxiety, antisocial personality disorder, substance use disorders, and suicidality (including recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation, or a suicide attempt), were assessed in young adulthood (19, 21, and 24-26 years) by use of structured diagnostic interviews. RESULTS Victims and bullies/victims had elevated rates of young adult psychiatric disorders, but also elevated rates of childhood psychiatric disorders and family hardships. After controlling for childhood psychiatric problems or family hardships, we found that victims continued to have a higher prevalence of agoraphobia (odds ratio [OR], 4.6 [95% CI, 1.7-12.5]; P < .01), generalized anxiety (OR, 2.7 [95% CI, 1.1-6.3]; P < .001), and panic disorder (OR, 3.1 [95% CI, 1.5-6.5]; P < .01) and that bullies/victims were at increased risk of young adult depression (OR, 4.8 [95% CI, 1.2-19.4]; P < .05), panic disorder (OR, 14.5 [95% CI, 5.7-36.6]; P < .001), agoraphobia (females only; OR, 26.7 [95% CI, 4.3-52.5]; P < .001), and suicidality (males only; OR, 18.5 [95% CI, 6.2-55.1]; P < .001). Bullies were at risk for antisocial personality disorder only (OR, 4.1 [95% CI, 1.1-15.8]; P < .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The effects of being bullied are direct, pleiotropic, and long-lasting, with the worst effects for those who are both victims and bullies.

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA)

Great advances have been made during the last 20 years in the development of structured and semi-structured interviews for use with psychiatric patients. However, in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry there have been weaknesses in the specification and definition of both symptoms and the psychosocial impairments resulting from psychiatric disorder. Furthermore, most of the available interviews for use with children have been tied to a single diagnostic system (DSM-III, DSM-III-R, or ICD-9). This has meant that symptom coverage has been limited and nosological comparisons have been inhibited. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA) represents an attempt to remedy some of these shortcomings. This paper outlines the principles adopted in the CAPA to improve the standardization, reliability and meaningfulness of symptom and diagnostic ratings. The CAPA is an interviewer-based diagnostic interview with versions for use with children and their parents, focused on symptoms occurring during the preceding 3 month period, adapted for assessments in both clinical and epidemiological research.

The prevalence of potentially traumatic events in childhood and adolescence.

This paper examines exposure to potentially traumatic events from middle childhood through adolescence, and vulnerability to such exposure. Analyses are based on the first 4 annual waves of data from a longitudinal general population study of youth in western North Carolina, involving 4,965 interviews with 1,420 children and adolescents and their parents or guardians. Participants reported on DSM extreme stressors (“high magnitude events”), other potentially traumatic events (“low magnitude events”), and background vulnerability factors. In this general population sample, one-quarter experienced at least one high magnitude event by age 16, 6% within the past 3 months. One third experienced a low magnitude event in the past 3 months. The likelihood of such exposure increased with the number of vulnerability factors.

Depression scale scores in 8–17‐year‐olds: effects of age and gender

BACKGROUND The excess of unipolar depression in females emerges in adolescence. However, studies of age effects on depression scale scores have produced divergent estimates of changes from childhood to adolescence. METHOD We explored possible reasons for this discrepancy in two large, longitudinal samples of twins and singletons aged 8-17. RESULTS There were no differences between twins and singletons in their scores on the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), a 13-item self-report depression scale. SMFQ scores for boys fell over this age-range, while those for girls fell from age 9 to age 11 and then increased from age 12 to age 17. The mean scores of girls under 12 and those 12 and over differed by only around one-fifth of a standard deviation. However, given the non-normal distribution of the scores, a cut point that selected the upper 6% of scores created the expected female:male ratio of 2:1. CONCLUSIONS Implications for future research on adolescent depression are discussed.

Effects of age and pubertal status on depression in a large clinical sample

The rate of depression rises overall between childhood and adolescence, and by early adulthood depression is twice as common in women as in men. However, study results are conflicting as to the relative rates of depression in prepubertal boys and girls, and it is not clear whether the rates in adolescent boys rise, fall, or remain steady. It is also uncertain when in adolescence the female preponderance emerges. A number of studies point to effects of the biological developments of puberty as having an important place in these changes. From a developmental point of view, the fact that the hormonal and physical changes of puberty differ in boys and girls, mean that a “biological explanation” fits in well with the gender differentiation in rates of depression across puberty. In a sample of 3,519 8–16-year-old psychiatric patients, both boys and girls shared increasing levels of depression across this age range, but the rate of increase was faster in girls. There was no difference in the rates of depression between boys and girls before the age of 11, but by the age of 16 girls were twice as likely as boys to have significant depressive symptomatology. When age was controlled for, pubertal status had no effect on depression scores. Thus, these results did not support the idea that the biological changes of puberty are a primary motive force in producing the changes in the sex ratio in depression in adolescence. Therefore, further research on this topic needs not only to address the etiology of depression in young people, but also to search for etiologic factors with differential distributions or effects on boys and girls.