Patterns of affective comorbidity in a clinical population of dually diagnosed adolescent substance abusers

Patterns of affective comorbidity with substance abuse are examined in a sample of 156 adolescent psychiatric inpatients, ages 13 to 18 years old. Affective disorders, including adjustment disorder with depressed mood, were observed in 51.3% of patients. A total of 30.7% of patients had comorbid major depression. In both males and females, secondary major depressive disorder was more common than its primary form. In this population, the primary-secondary paradigm did not predict either acute remission for depressive symptoms or distinct family history of comorbid disorders. Consistent with previous studies of adults, significantly more females had comorbid affective disorder and significantly more males had conduct disorder.