Low-End Specificity of Childhood Measures of Emotional Distress: Differential Effects for Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

This study examined the low-end specificity of self-report measures of anxious and depressed symptoms among a clinical sample of 96 child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients (54 boys, 42 girls; ages 8 to 16; M = 12.34, SD = 2.43). To our knowledge, the study is one of the first to examine the issue in a clinical sample, and the first to address this issue in children and adolescents. Participants completed the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). As predicted, CDI low-end participants obtained higher RCMAS Lie scale scores than depressed participants, suggesting a tendency to deny symptoms and to attempt to appear in a favorable light. In contrast, but also consistent with prediction, low-end RCMAS participants did not obtain higher Lie scale scores than anxious participants. Gender and age did not moderate the findings in any way. Thus, our results support hypotheses that defensiveness would affect a self-report measure of depression but not a self-report measure of anxiety. Recommendations for addressing low-end specificity problems in both research and clinical work are discussed.