Frequency of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in a Community Sample of Young Adolescents

LAURA A. VALLENI-BASILE, CAROL Z. GARRISON, KIRBY L. JACKSON, JENNIFER L. WALLER, ROBERT E. McKEOWN, CHERYL L. ADDY, STEVEN P. CUFFE

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

350 Scopus citations

Abstract

To investigate the frequency and phenomenology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and subclinical OCD in young adolescents. A two-stage epidemiological study originally designed to investigate adolescent depression was conducted between 1986 and 1988 in the southeastern United States. In the first stage, a self-report depressive symptom questionnaire was administered to a community sample of 3,283 adolescents. In the diagnostic stage, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children and the Children's Global Assessment Scale were administered to 488 mother-child pairs. The prevalences of OCD and subclinical OCD were found to be 3% and 19%, respectively. Prevalences were similar in males and females. Females reported more symptoms of compulsions although males reported more obsessions. About 55% of adolescents with OCD reported both obsessions and compulsions. The most common compulsions were arranging (56%), counting (41%), collecting (38%), and washing (17%). Major depressive disorder (45%), separation anxiety (34%), dysthymia (29%), suicidal ideation (15%), and phobia (8%) were the diagnoses most frequently comorbid with OCD. Findings suggest that OCD is not infrequent among adolescents and that the characteristic comorbidity and symptomatology of OCD may facilitate earlier identification and treatment by clinicians.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)782-791
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume33
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1994
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • adolescent
  • comorbidity
  • compulsions
  • obsessions
  • obsessive-compulsive disorder

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Frequency of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in a Community Sample of Young Adolescents'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this