CBCL clinical scales discriminate prepubertal children with structured interview-derived diagnosis of mania from those with ADHD.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the discriminative ability of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to identify children with structured interview-derived diagnosis of bipolar disorder.


METHODS
We evaluated the convergence of CBCL scales with the diagnosis of mania in 31 children with mania, 120 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and 77 prepubertal normal control children aged 12 years or younger. We evaluated the strength of association between each CBCL scale and structured interview-derived diagnoses with total predictive value and the odds ratio.


RESULTS
Excellent convergence was found between the CBCL scales of Delinquent Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, Somatic Complaints, Anxious/Depressed, and Thought Problems and the diagnosis of mania.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that the CBCL could serve as a rapid and useful screening instrument to identify manic children in clinical settings.
Biederman
J
J
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114, USA.
Wozniak
J
J
Kiely
K
K
Ablon
S
S
Faraone
S
S
Mick
E
E
Mundy
E
E
Kraus
I
I
D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results