Family functioning and psychopathology among adolescents with severe emotional disturbances

Family psychosocial functioning and its relation to psychopathology among adolescents with severe emotional disturbances (SED) was assessed. Subjects were 353 adolescents with SED, ages 12-18, and their parents. During a semi-structured interview, adolescents were administered Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES-III), Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-Child Version (DISC-C), and the Self-Derogation Scale. Parents were administered FACES-IIII and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in a phone interview. Results indicated that on the FACES-IIII cohesion dimension, both parents and adolescents perceived their family relations as more disengaged and less connected than did normative families (p less than .001). In contrast, only parent FACES-IIII adaptability scores were significantly more extreme than a normative sample (p less than .01). Additionally, both parent and adolescent cohesion scores were significantly correlated with adolescent psychopathology measures: DISC-C conduct disorder (p less than .01), depression (p less than .05), alcohol/marijuana (p less than .01), and CBCL externalizing symptoms (p less than .01). These relationships did not deviate from linearity.