Recall of childhood psychopathology more than 10 years later.
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.
Masia
Carrie L
CL
New York University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, New York, NY 10016, USA. carrie.masia@med.nyu.edu
Storch
Eric A
EA
Dent
Heather C
HC
Adams
Philip
P
Verdeli
Helena
H
Davies
Mark
M
Weissman
Myrna M
MM
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