Irritability, Defiant and Obsessive-Compulsive Problems Development from Childhood to Adolescence

Abstract

Little is known about the coexistence of oppositionality and obsessive-compulsive problems (OCP) in community children and how it affects their development until adolescence to prevent possible dysfunctions. The co-development of oppositional defiant dimensions and OCP is studied in 563 children (49.7% female) from ages 6 to 13 years, assessed yearly with measures answered by parents and teachers. A 4-class model based on Latent Class Growth Analysis for three parallel processes (irritability, defiant, and OCP) was selected, which showed adequate fitting indexes. Class 1 (n = 349, 62.0%) children scored low on all the measures. Class 2 (n = 53, 9.4%) contained children with high OCP and low irritability and defiant. Class 3 (n = 108, 19.2%) clustered children with high irritability and defiant and low OCP. Class 4 (n = 53, 9.4%) clustered comorbid irritability, defiant, and OCP characteristics. The classes showed different clinical characteristics through development. The developmental co-occurrence of irritability and defiant plus obsessive-compulsive behaviors is frequent and adds severity through development regarding comorbidity, peer problems, executive functioning difficulties, and daily functioning. The identification of different classes when combining oppositional problems and OCP may be informative to prevent developmental dysfunctions and to promote good adjustment through development.

Keywords: Defiant/Headstrong; developmental trajectories; Irritability; Obsessive-compulsive; Oppositional defiant..

Fig. 1

Trajectories for Irritability, Defiant, and Obsessive-Compulsive Problems (OCP) by Processes. Note. Each panel shows the four classes simultaneously for each of the 3 processes over time. The Y-axis corresponds to direct scores based on the sum of item ratings (the title of each figure indicates its theoretical possible scale); the grey horizontal dotted line shows the 75th percentile. Class 1: All low; Class 2: High OCP with low irritability-defiant; Class 3: High Irritability-Defiant with low OCP; Class 4: High Irritability-Defiant-OCP

Fig. 2

Trajectories for Irritability, Defiant, and Obsessive-compulsive problems (OCP) by Classes. Note. Each panel shows the three processes simultaneously for each of the 4 classes. The Y-axis corresponds to the direct scores based on the average of item ratings (0-2 scale for all three processes); the grey horizontal lines show the 75^th percentile of the measure with the same line pattern. Class 1: All low; Class 2: High OCP with low irritability-defiant; Class 3: High Irritability-Defiant with low OCP; Class 4: High Irritability-Defiant-OCP