Brief report: Can irritability act as a marker of psychopathology?. Issue 4 (31st March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mulraney, Melissa; Melvin, Glenn; Tonge, Bruce
• Is Part Of: Journal of adolescence. Volume 37:Issue 4(2014)
• Page Start: 419
• Page End: 423
• Publication Date: 2014-03-31
• Subjects: Irritability -- Adolescence -- Affective Reactivity Index -- Psychopathology; Adolescent psychiatry -- Periodicals; Adolescent psychology -- Periodicals; Adolescence -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 305.23505
• DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.03.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0140-1971

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Irritability is ubiquitous in child and adolescent psychopathology. This study aimed to determine if the Affective Reactivity Index (ARI), a measure of irritability, could be used to screen for psychopathology in adolescents. The clinical sample comprised 31 adolescents with a DSM‐IV diagnosis. The control sample was 31 gender and age matched adolescents recruited through schools. Both samples completed a test battery that included the Affective Reactivity Index. The clinical participants reported significantly higher levels of irritability than the control sample by both self‐ and parent‐report. Using ROC analysis a cut off value of 4 on the self‐report ARI was found to be optimal for indicating psychopathology; with a specificity of 77.4% and a sensitivity of 77.4%, the area under the curve was 0.86. This paper provides evidence to suggest that irritability may be used as a general predictor of psychopathology in adolescents.