Gender and the comparison of self and observer ratings of anxiety and depression in adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
This study assessed the influence of gender on the comparability of self and observer ratings of anxiety and depression in adolescents.


METHODS
Subjects were 75 inpatient adolescents who were administered structured interviews of the revised Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression (HRSD-R) and Anxiety (HARS-R) and read the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).


RESULTS
All measures demonstrated adequate internal consistency and validity. The correlation between the BDI and HRSD-R was significantly higher for females than males; of 11 symptoms that overlap on the BDI and HRSD-R, observers significantly agreed with males and females in their perceptions of 5 and 11 depressive symptoms, respectively. The correlation between the BAI and HARS-R did not differ significantly for males and females.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that self-reports of anxiety symptoms are a valid, cost-effective alternative to anxiety observer ratings for boys and girls' self-reports of depression are comparable to depression ratings by observers. There is the need to collect self-report information from adolescent boys because they may not communicate subjective symptoms of depression, e.g., guilt, to observers.
Jolly
J B
JB
Department of Psychology, Mississippi College, Clinton 39058.
Wiesner
D C
DC
Wherry
J N
JN
Jolly
J M
JM
Dykman
R A
RA
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors