OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the influence of gender on the comparability of self and observer ratings of anxiety and depression in adolescents. METHOD: Subjects were 75 inpatient adolescents who were administered structured interviews of the revised Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression (HRSD-R) and Anxiety (HARS-R) and read the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). RESULTS: All measures demonstrated adequate internal consistency and validity. The correlation between the BDI and HRSD-R was significantly higher for females than males; of 11 symptoms that overlap on the BDI and HRSD-R, observers significantly agreed with males and females in their perceptions of 5 and 11 depressive symptoms, respectively. The correlation between the BAI and HARS-R did not differ significantly for males and females. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that self-reports of anxiety symptoms are a valid, cost-effective alternative to anxiety observer ratings for boys and girls' self-reports of depression are comparable to depression ratings by observers. There is the need to collect self-report information from adolescent boys because they may not communicate subjective symptoms of depression, e.g., guilt, to observers.
OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the influence of gender on the comparability of self and observer ratings of anxiety and depression in adolescents. METHOD: Subjects were 75 inpatient adolescents who were administered structured interviews of the revised Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression (HRSD-R) and Anxiety (HARS-R) and read the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). RESULTS: All measures demonstrated adequate internal consistency and validity. The correlation between the BDI and HRSD-R was significantly higher for females than males; of 11 symptoms that overlap on the BDI and HRSD-R, observers significantly agreed with males and females in their perceptions of 5 and 11 depressive symptoms, respectively. The correlation between the BAI and HARS-R did not differ significantly for males and females. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that self-reports of anxiety symptoms are a valid, cost-effective alternative to anxiety observer ratings for boys and girls' self-reports of depression are comparable to depression ratings by observers. There is the need to collect self-report information from adolescent boys because they may not communicate subjective symptoms of depression, e.g., guilt, to observers.
Authors: Anette Schrag; Paolo Barone; Richard G Brown; Albert F G Leentjens; William M McDonald; Sergio Starkstein; Daniel Weintraub; Werner Poewe; Olivier Rascol; Cristina Sampaio; Glenn T Stebbins; Christopher G Goetz Journal: Mov Disord Date: 2007-06-15 Impact factor: 10.338