The Clinical Relevance of Divergence in Adolescent-Parent Reports of Adolescent Depression and Anxiety.

This study examines associations between adolescent problem behaviors and adolescent-parent disagreement in ratings of adolescent depression and anxiety symptoms. Adolescent-parent dyads (N = 463; mean age = 12.68 years; 48.5% female; 78.2% White and 21.8% non-White) reported on adolescent depression and anxiety using parallel scales from the Youth Self Report (Achenbach et al., J Emot Behav Disord 10:194-203, 2002) and the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach and Rescorla, The manual for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles, University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families, Burlington, 2001) across four waves. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the relationship between discrepancy scores and adolescent behavioral outcomes: incidence of adolescent past-year substance use (alcohol use, binge drinking, marijuana use, and nonmedical use of controlled medications), delinquency, self-harm behavior, and aggression. Findings showed that larger adolescent-parent divergence scores of depression were associated with higher odds of marijuana use, non-medical use of controlled medications, alcohol use, binge drinking, in-school delinquency, illegal behavior, self-harm behavior, and clinically significant levels of aggressive behavior. Results further revealed that larger divergence scores on anxiety were associated with higher odds of in-school delinquency, illegal behavior, self-harm behavior, and clinically significant levels of aggressive behavior. Adolescent-parent reporting discrepancy on adolescent's depression and anxiety symptoms may be indicative of adolescent's social, emotional, and behavioral problems, and the disagreement may signal further need for assessment of the adolescent.

Diversion of ADHD Stimulants and Victimization Among Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether a recent prescription for stimulant medication is associated with peer victimization among youth with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: Data from 4,965 adolescents attending five public schools who completed an annual web survey over 4 years were used to examine recent stimulant medication prescription and self-reported frequent victimization. RESULTS: Adolescents with ADHD and recent stimulant prescription reported more victimization than those without ADHD, but similar to adolescents with ADHD and no recent prescription. Adolescents with ADHD and past 12-month diversion of their prescribed stimulants were at greatest risk of 12-month frequent victimization compared with adolescents without ADHD and adolescents with ADHD but no recent prescription. Youth approached to divert reported more victimization than youth not approached. Youth who diverted reported more victimization than those who did not divert. CONCLUSIONS: Close parent-prescriber collaboration is needed to ensure effective medical treatment for ADHD without greater risk for victimization and treatment failure.