title: Symptoms versus a diagnosis of depression: differences in psychosocial functioning.
abstract: In studies of clinical depression, individuals who demonstrate elevated levels of symptoms but do not meet interview-based diagnostic criteria are typically labeled as false positive and eliminated from further consideration. However, the implicit assumption that false-positive participants differ in important ways from true-positive (i.e., diagnosed) participants has not been tested systematically. This study compared the functioning of true-positive, false-positive, and true-negative adolescents on clinical and psychosocial functioning. Although the false-positive participants manifested higher levels of current and future psychopathology than did the true-negative participants, they did not differ significantly from the true-positive participants on most of the measures of psychosocial dysfunction. "False positive," therefore, is not a benign condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-2710.
authors.forename: I H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Gotlib
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Lewinsohn
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Seeley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological