Sex and informant effects on diagnostic comorbidity in an adolescent community sample

Abstract

Objective: To investigate sex and informant effects on comorbidity rates for anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and conduct-oppositional disorder (CD-ODD) in an adolescent community sample.

Method: The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-2.25 (DISC-2.25) was administered to 1201 adolescents and their mothers.

Results: The highest comorbidity risk found was between ADHD and CD-ODD, with odds ratios (ORs) of 17.6 for adolescent reports and 12.0 for mother reports. The second-highest comorbidity risk, with ORs of 13.2 for adolescent reports and 11.0 for mother reports, was between anxiety and depressive disorders. There was not much overlap between internalizing and externalizing disorders. Adolescent girls had higher rates of coexisting anxiety and depressive disorders, whereas adolescent boys had higher rates of coexisting ADHD and CD-ODD. There was partial support for the hypothesis that adolescent-reported comorbidity rates would exceed mother-reported rates.

Conclusions: There is a greater cooccurrence of within-category, compared with between-category, disorders. Adolescent girls are more likely to have coexisting internalizing disorders, while adolescent boys are more likely to have coexisting externalizing disorders. Mothers tend to report more externalizing disorders (that is, ADHD), while adolescents generally report more internalizing disorders.