To present the 12-month prevalence of DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD) and severe MDD; to examine sociodemographic correlates and comorbidity; and to describe impairment and service use.
Data ...are from the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), a nationally representative survey of 10,123 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years that assesses DSM-IV disorders using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) Version 3.0. One parent or surrogate of each participating adolescent was also asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire.
Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of MDD were 11.0% and 7.5%, respectively. The corresponding rates of severe MDD were 3.0% and 2.3%. The prevalence of MDD increased significantly across adolescence, with markedly greater increases among females than among males. Most cases of MDD were associated with psychiatric comorbidity and severe role impairment, and a substantial minority reported suicidality. The prevalence of severe MDD was about one-fourth of that of all MDD cases; estimates of impairment and clinical correlates were of 2- to 5-fold greater magnitude for severe versus mild/moderate depression, with markedly higher rates for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Treatment in any form was received by the majority of adolescents with 12-month DSM-IV MDD (60.4%), but only a minority received treatment that was disorder-specific or from the mental health sector.
Findings underscore the important public health significance of depression among US adolescents and the urgent need to improve screening and treatment access in this population.
Objective: Mental health policy for youth has been constrained by a paucity of nationally representative data concerning patterns and correlates of mental health service utilization in this segment ...of the population. The objectives of this investigation were to examine the rates and sociodemographic correlates of lifetime mental health service use by severity, type, and number of "DSM-IV" disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement. Method: Face-to-face survey of mental disorders from 2002 to 2004 using a modified version of the fully structured World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview in a nationally representative sample of 6,483 adolescents 13 to 18 years old for whom information on service use was available from an adolescent and a parent report. Total and sector-specific mental health service use was also assessed. Results: Approximately one third of adolescents with mental disorders received services for their illness (36.2%). Although disorder severity was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of receiving treatment, half of adolescents with severely impairing mental disorders had never received mental health treatment for their symptoms. Service rates were highest in those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (59.8%) and behavior disorders (45.4%), but fewer than one in five affected adolescents received services for anxiety, eating, or substance use disorders. Comorbidity and severe impairment were strongly associated with service utilization, particularly in youth with behavior disorders. Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black adolescents were less likely than their White counterparts to receive services for mood and anxiety disorders, even when such disorders were associated with severe impairment. Conclusions: Despite advances in public awareness of mental disorders in youth, a substantial proportion of young people with severe mental disorders have never received specialty mental health care. Marked racial disparities in lifetime rates of mental health treatment highlight the urgent need to identify and combat barriers to the recognition and treatment of these conditions. (Contains 5 tables.)
Childhood psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are associated with a range of impairments; a subset of children experiencing PLEs will develop psychiatric disorders, including psychotic disorders. A ...potential distinguishing factor between benign PLEs versus PLEs that are clinically relevant is whether PLEs are distressing and/or persistent. The current study used three waves of Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) study PLEs assessments to examine the extent to which persistent and/or distressing PLEs were associated with relevant baseline risk factors (e.g., cognition) and functioning/mental health service utilization domains. Four groups varying in PLE persistence and distress endorsement were created based on all available data in ABCD Release 3.0, with group membership not contingent on complete data: persistent distressing PLEs (n = 272), transient distressing PLEs (n = 298), persistent non-distressing PLEs (n = 221), and transient non-distressing PLEs (n = 536) groups. Using hierarchical linear models, results indicated youth with distressing PLEs, whether transient or persistent, showed delayed developmental milestones (β = 0.074, 95%CI:0.013,0.134) and altered structural MRI metrics (β = -0.0525, 95%CI:-0.100,-0.005). Importantly, distress interacted with PLEs persistence for the domains of functioning/mental health service utilization (β = 0.079, 95%CI:0.016,0.141), other reported psychopathology (β = 0.101, 95%CI:0.030,0.170), cognition (β = -0.052, 95%CI:0.-0.099,-0.002), and environmental adversity (β = 0.045, 95%CI:0.003,0.0.86; although no family history effects), with the interaction characterized by greatest impairment in the persistent distressing PLEs group. These results have implications for disentangling the importance of distress and persistence for PLEs with regards to impairments, including functional, pathophysiological, and environmental outcomes. These novel longitudinal data underscore that it is often only in the context of distress that persistent PLEs were related to impairments.
This review discusses the relevance of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) to clinical research in child and adolescent psychiatry.
We summarize the ...characteristics of the NIMH RDoC project and then provide examples of RDoC designs that are of relevance to clinical investigators in child and adolescent psychiatry. The final section addresses questions regarding the impact of RDoC on clinical care.
RDoC encourages investigators to investigate psychopathology dimensionally: greater or lesser degrees of healthy/adapted functioning of neurobiological, cognitive, and behavioral processes (constructs) that cut across current diagnostic categories. Elucidation of the developmental components of RDoC constructs is needed to ensure they are fully validated. Integrating RDoC approaches into clinical research of child and adolescent psychopathology is contributing to our understanding of development as an aspect of the heterogeneity within DSM disorders and commonalities across seemingly disparate disorders. Continued efforts promise to also explain the processes that lead to mental illness in at-risk populations.
Incorporating an RDoC approach in clinical research in child and adolescent psychiatry promises to be a fruitful avenue of research into the root causes and manifestations of mental illness, which will eventually lead to more precise treatments. Although the long-term aspiration of RDoC is to help reduce the burden of suffering for those with mental illnesses, it is not intended to be used for practical clinical purposes at this early stage.
Objective: To present estimates of the lifetime prevalence of "DSM-IV" mental disorders with and without severe impairment, their comorbidity across broad classes of disorder, and their ...sociodemographic correlates. Method: The National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement NCS-A is a nationally representative face-to-face survey of 10,123 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years in the continental United States. "DSM-IV" mental disorders were assessed using a modified version of the fully structured World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: Anxiety disorders were the most common condition (31.9%), followed by behavior disorders (19.1%), mood disorders (14.3%), and substance use disorders (11.4%), with approximately 40% of participants with one class of disorder also meeting criteria for another class of lifetime disorder. The overall prevalence of disorders with severe impairment and/or distress was 22.2% (11.2% with mood disorders, 8.3% with anxiety disorders, and 9.6% behavior disorders). The median age of onset for disorder classes was earliest for anxiety (6 years), followed by 11 years for behavior, 13 years for mood, and 15 years for substance use disorders. Conclusions: These findings provide the first prevalence data on a broad range of mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents. Approximately one in every four to five youth in the U.S. meets criteria for a mental disorder with severe impairment across their lifetime. The likelihood that common mental disorders in adults first emerge in childhood and adolescence highlights the need for a transition from the common focus on treatment of U.S. youth to that of prevention and early intervention. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)
The goals and measures of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement are discussed. The survey seeks to provide the first nationally representative estimate of mental disorders ...among U.S. adolescents aged 13 to 17 years. The survey can also be used to generate patterns of service use and barriers to treatment.
The Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study incorporates a comprehensive range of measures assessing predictors and outcomes related to both mental and physical health across ...childhood and adolescence. The workgroup developed a battery that would assess a comprehensive range of domains that address study aims while minimizing participant and family burden. We review the major considerations that went into deciding what constructs to cover in the demographics, physical health and mental health domains, as well as the process of selecting measures, piloting and refining the originally proposed battery. We present a description of the baseline battery, as well as the six-month interim assessments and the one-year follow-up assessments. This battery includes assessments from the perspectives of both the parent and the target youth, as well as teacher reports. This battery will provide a foundational baseline assessment of the youth’s current function so as to permit characterization of stability and change in key domains over time. The findings from this battery will also be utilized to identify both resilience markers that predict healthy development and risk factors for later adverse outcomes in physical health, mental health, and substance use and abuse.
Irritability in Youth: An Update Avenevoli, Shelli; Blader, Joseph C; Leibenluft, Ellen
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
11/2015, Volume:
54, Issue:
11
Journal Article
The national comorbidity survey that seeks to determine the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders among U.S. adolescents is based on a dual-frame design that includes 904 adolescents from a ...previous household survey and 9,244 adolescent students from a sample of 320 schools. Replacement schools for those that refuse to participate do not produce bias.
Objective: Social phobia typically develops during the adolescent years, yet no nationally representative studies in the United States have examined the rates and features of this condition among ...youth in this age range. The objectives of this investigation were to: (1) present the lifetime prevalence, sociodemographic and clinical correlates, and comorbidity of social phobia in a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents; and (2) examine differences in the rates and features of social phobia across the proposed "DSM-5" social phobia subtypes. Method: The National Comorbidity Survey Replication-Adolescent Supplement is a nationally representative face-to-face survey of 10,123 adolescents 13 to 18 years of age in the continental United States. Results: Approximately 9% of adolescents met criteria for any social phobia in their lifetime. Of these adolescents, 55.8% were affected with the generalized subtype and 44.2% exhibited nongeneralized social phobia. Only 0.7% met criteria for the proposed DSM-5 performance-only subtype. Generalized social phobia was more common among female adolescents and risk for this subtype increased with age. Adolescents with generalized social phobia also had a younger age of onset, higher levels of disability and clinical severity, and a greater degree of comorbidity relative to adolescents with nongeneralized forms of the disorder. Conclusions: This study indicates that social phobia is a highly prevalent, persistent, and impairing psychiatric disorder among adolescent youth. Results of this study also provide evidence for the clinical utility of the generalized subtype and highlight the importance of considering the heterogeneity of social phobia in this age group. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)
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