Prevalence, stability, and predictive utility of the Multidimensional Assessment of Preschoolers Scales clinically optimized irritability score: Pragmatic early assessment of mental disorder risk.

OBJECTIVES: Characterizing the scope and import of early childhood irritability is essential for real-world actualization of this reliable indicator of transdiagnostic mental health risk. Thus, we utilize pragmatic assessment to establish prevalence, stability, and predictive utility of clinically significant early childhood irritability. METHODS: Data included two independent, diverse community samples of preschool age children (N = 1857; N = 1490), with a subset enriched for risk (N = 425) assessed longitudinally from early childhood through preadolescence (∼4-9 years old). A validated, brief (2-item) scale pragmatically assessed clinically significant irritability. In the longitudinal subsample, clinical interviews assessed internalizing/externalizing disorders. RESULTS: One in five preschool-age children had clinically significant irritability, which was independently replicated. Irritability was highly stable through preadolescence. Children with versus without clinically significant early childhood irritability had greater odds of early onset, persistent internalizing/externalizing disorders. The pragmatic assessment effectively screened out low-risk children and identified 2/3 of children with early-onset, persistent psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically significant early childhood irritability prevalence is akin to the pediatric obesity epidemic and may warrant similar universal screening/intervention. Also, irritability's stability demonstrates the common guidance "they'll grow out of it" to be false. Finally, pragmatic irritability assessment has transdiagnostic predictive power and addresses a need for feasible measures to flag risk.

Advancing earlier transdiagnostic identification of mental health risk: A pragmatic approach at the transition to toddlerhood.

OBJECTIVES: In light of the youth mental health crisis, as 1 in 5 children have a mental disorder diagnosis by age 3, identification of transdiagnostic behavioral vulnerability prior to impairing psychopathology must occur at an earlier phase of the clinical sequence. Here, we lay the groundwork for a pragmatic irritability measure to identify at-risk infant-toddlers. METHODS: Data comprised N = 350 diverse infant-toddlers and their mothers assessed at ∼14 months old for irritability (Multidimensional Assessment Profiles- Temper Loss-Infant/Toddler (MAPS-TL-IT) and impairment (Early Childhood Irritability-Related Impairment Interview, E-CRI; and Family Life Impairment Scale (FLIS). Bimonthly follow-up surveys assessed impairment (FLIS) over the following year. RESULTS: Stepwise logistic regression indicated that 5 MAPS-TL-IT items were most informative for differentiating concurrent impairment on the FLIS: "frustrated about small things"; "hit, bite, or kick during tantrums"; "trouble cheering up when grumpy"; "grumpy during fun activities" and "tantrums in public". With this summed score, Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis differentiating concurrent impairment on the E-CRI indicated good classification accuracy for (Area under the curve = 0.755, p < 0.05), with a cutoff of 5 maximizing sensitivity (71.4%) and specificity (70.6%). Elevated irritability on this MAPS-TL-IT clinically optimized screener increased likelihood of persistently elevated FLIS impairment trajectories over the following year more than fourfold (OR = 4.37; Confidence intervals = 2.40-7.97, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings represent the first step toward a pragmatic tool for screening for transdiagnostic mental health risk in toddlers, optimized for feasibility in clinical care. This has potential to strengthen resilience pathways via earlier identification of mental health risk and corollary prevention in toddlers.