Diagnostic Efficiency of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory (CASI-4R) Depression Subscale for Identifying Youth Mood Disorders
Journal
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Journal Volume
47
Journal Issue
5
Start Page
832
End Page
846
ISSN
1537-4416
1537-4424
Date Issued
2018-09-03
Author(s)
Salcedo, Stephanie
Youngstrom, Eric A.
Fristad, Mary A.
Gadow, Kenneth D.
Horwitz, Sarah M.
Frazier, Thomas W.
Arnold, L. Eugene
Phillips, Mary L.
Birmaher, Boris
Kowatch, Robert A.
Findling, Robert L.
DOI
10.1080/15374416.2017.1280807
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.
Subjects
Adolescent
Caregivers
Child
Depression
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mood Disorders
Parents
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Reproducibility of Results
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Type
journal article