Agreement Between Parent- and Self-Reports of Psychopathic Traits and Externalizing Behaviors in a Clinical Sample

The Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorder (PSCD) in Iranian School-Attending Adolescents: A Multi-Informant Validation Study of the PSCD Parent- and Youth Self-Report Versions

The Proposed Specifier for Conduct Disorder (PSCD) was developed to measure the broad psychopathy construct with grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, daring-impulsive, and conduct disorder subscales. This study tested the psychometric properties of Persian parent-and-child self-report PSCD versions with 974 parents (86% mothers) and children/adolescents (46.5% boys) dyads. Results showed that with some modifications the proposed hierarchical four-factor structure for both PSCDs was confirmed and was found to be invariant across gender. Across versions, all PSCD scores were internally consistent and demonstrated expected correlations with parent-reported externalizing problems, anxiety/depression, and poor school performance, supporting the PSCDs scores' validity. This study also is the first to examine and establish acceptable to excellent parent-child agreement of PSCD scores. Finally, all PSCD child-report scores offered small though significant incremental validity over their corresponding PSCD parent-version scores in predicting parent-reported conduct problems and proactive aggression. Findings indicated that both Persian PSCDs may hold promise for assessing psychopathy components in Iranian school-attending adolescents and generating additional research on this topic.

Characterizing Youth-Caregiver Concordance and Discrepancies in Psychopathology Symptoms in a US Community Sample

Evidence shows that reports of psychopathology symptoms by youth and their caregiver informants differ. To quantify youth-caregiver discrepancies in psychopathology symptoms and factors associated with such discrepancies, we investigated differences in how youth and their caregivers rated psychopathology symptoms. The sample (N = 5094) was extracted from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, a community-based sample of youth and included participants ages 11-17 years old with both youth and caregiver reported symptom scores. Across psychopathology symptoms, youth-caregiver concordance was poor to fair (Cohens kappa for symptom items ranged between 0.03-0.41). Psychosis symptoms had the lowest concordance-Cohen's kappa ranged from 0.03 to 0.17 across psychosis symptoms. Discrepancies between youth and caregiver symptom reports were greater than average for Black youth and for youth of low socioeconomic status; discrepancies were also higher than average in youth with any psychiatric disorder when compared to typically developing youth. Network analysis of difference scores obtained by subtracting youth symptom scores from caregiver reported symptom scores showed that network connectivity (i.e., correlated difference scores) was sparsest for psychosis spectrum compared to other psychiatric disorders. Using a large sample, we show that youth and their caregiver informants tend to report psychopathology symptoms differently. Youth-caregiver discrepancies were the most pronounced for Black youth and youth of low socio-economic status. Race and socioeconomic status contribute to significant differences in how youth and their caregivers report such symptoms and are important factors that should be accounted for to facilitate accurate mental health symptom assessment and evaluation.

Contributions from resting state functional connectivity and familial risk to early adolescent-onset MDD: Results from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study

BACKGROUND

Family history of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a robust predictor of MDD onset, especially in early adolescence. We examined the relationships between familial risk for depression and alterations to resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) within the default mode network (wDMN) and between the DMN and the left/right hippocampus (DMN-LHIPP/DMN-RHIPP) to the risk for early adolescent MDD onset.

METHODS

We examined 9403 youth aged nine to eleven from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. Depressive symptoms were measured with the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist. Both youth and their parents completed the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, which provided MDD diagnoses. A family history screen was administered to determine familial risk for depression. Youth underwent a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, providing us with rsFC data.

RESULTS

Negative wDMN rsFC was associated with child-reported current depression, both child- and parent-reported past depression, and parent-reported current depressive symptoms. No difference was found in wDMN, DMN-LHIPP or DMN-RHIPP rsFC in children with or without familial risk for depression. Familial risk for depression interacted with wDMN rsFC in association with child-reported past MDD diagnosis and parent-reported current depressive symptoms.

LIMITATIONS

Information such as length of depressive episodes and age of onset of depression was not collected.

CONCLUSIONS

Altered wDMN rsFC in youth at familial risk for depression may be associated with increased risk for MDD onset in adolescence, but longitudinal studies are needed to test this hypothesis.

Adolescent-Parent Agreement on Callous-Unemotional Traits in Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

This study examined the levels of agreement between the reports of 207 adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their parents regarding the adolescents' callous-unemotional (CU) traits and investigated the factors influencing adolescent-parent agreement. Adolescent-parent agreement about CU traits in three dimensions according to the Chinese version of the Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits was examined. The influence of demographic characteristics, comorbid conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and ADHD symptoms on adolescent-parent agreement was also examined. The results indicated that adolescent-parent agreement on the CU trait of uncaringness was moderate, whereas agreement on the CU traits of callousness and unemotionality was poor. Adolescent-parent agreement on the three dimensions of CU traits varied depending on the adolescents' sex and comorbid CD and ODD symptoms as well as parental age. Therefore, multiple sources of information are required when assessing the severity of CU traits in adolescents with ADHD. The factors influencing the levels of the agreement should also be considered.

Assessing Psychopathic Traits Among Children: The First Validation Study of the Child Problematic Traits Inventory in a Clinical Sample

This is the first study that tested the psychometric properties of the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) in clinic-referred children (ages 6-13 years). Teachers (N = 159) and parents (N = 173) completed the CPTI and various other measures. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the CPTI's three-factor structure when teachers and parents rated the 28 CPTI items. Teacher- and parent-reported CPTI scores showed the expected relations with external correlates (e.g., conduct problems and proactive aggression). Crucially, the validity of the CPTI scores was also supported across informants (i.e., when linking teacher-reported CPTI scores to parent-reported external correlates, and vice versa) and across methods (i.e., regardless if a questionnaire or a diagnostic interview was used to measure external correlates). We conclude that the CPTI holds promise as a research tool for assessing psychopathic traits in clinic-referred children. Until our findings have been replicated and extended, the CPTI should not be used for clinical decision making.