title: Recall of childhood psychopathology more than 10 years later.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated recall in a sample of depressed, anxious, and normal children followed up as adults. Strengths of this study were that the length of the retest interval was substantial, follow-up information was collected by blind interviewers, and childhood diagnoses were clearly documented.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 144 subjects with a childhood diagnosis of depression, 48 with a childhood diagnosis of anxiety, and 128 normal controls. Best-estimate diagnoses assigned at follow-up were compared with childhood primary diagnoses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reliability and sensitivity were fair for major depressive disorder (mean = 0.46 and 50%, respectively) and any depression (mean = 0.57 and 65%, respectively). Reliability and sensitivity were relatively lower for anxiety (mean = 0.32 and 43%, respectively). Sensitivity for any diagnosis was good (mean = 71%). Specificity was good among all diagnostic categories (range = 73%-100%). Results suggest better diagnostic recall for females than for males. Recall was slightly better for subjects who were older than age 12 during their original episode. Age-of-onset reliability was poor (major depressive disorder = 0.22, any depression = 0.22, and any anxiety = -0.13).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recall of any childhood disorder is moderately reliable and accurate. Recall of a specific disorder is less accurate. Depression was more likely to be recalled than anxiety. High specificity suggests that participants were not biased to report disorders not present in childhood.
authors.affiliation: New York University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, New York, NY 10016, USA. carrie.masia@med.nyu.edu
authors.forename: Carrie L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Masia
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Storch
authors.forename: Heather C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Dent
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verdeli
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Myrna M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Weissman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity