Concurrent and predictive validity of the personality disorder diagnosis in adolescent inpatients.
OBJECTIVE
The authors investigated the concurrent and predictive validity of the DSM-III-R diagnosis of personality disorder in adolescents by means of baseline and follow-up assessments of inpatients treated at the Yale Psychiatric Institute.


METHODS
One hundred sixty-five hospitalized adolescents were reliably assessed by using a structured interview for personality disorder diagnoses as well as two measures of impairment and distress--the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale and the SCL-90-R. Two years after initial assessment, 101 subjects were independently reassessed with the same measures; their functioning was also assessed at this time.


RESULTS
At baseline, adolescents with personality disorders were significantly more impaired than those without personality disorders. At follow-up, adolescents with a personality disorder diagnosis at baseline had used significantly more drugs and had required more inpatient treatment during the follow-up interval. Over time, the scores on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale and SCL-90-R of adolescents diagnosed with a personality disorder at baseline became more similar to the scores of adolescents without a personality disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
The diagnosis of personality disorder in adolescent inpatients has good concurrent validity; however, the predictive validity of the diagnosis is mixed.
Levy
K N
KN
Yale Psychiatric Institute, New Haven, Conn., USA. klevy@gc.cuny.edu
Becker
D F
DF
Grilo
C M
CM
Mattanah
J J
JJ
Garnet
K E
KE
Quinlan
D M
DM
Edell
W S
WS
McGlashan
T H
TH
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design