Dimensions of adolescent psychopathology

A factor-analytic study of parent ratings of 253 male and female adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 referred for psychiatric and delinquent problems is reported. Parents rated their children on the Adolescent Form of the Louisville Behavior Checklist. One hundred thirty-seven items were intercorrelated and subjected to a principal component factor analysis and nine factors wre rotated to varimax solution. The nine factors were named: Egocentric-Exploitive, Destructive-Assaultive, Social Delinquency, Academic Disability, Adolescent Turmoil, Apathetic Isolation, Neuroticism, Dependent-Inhibited, and Neurological or Psychotic Abnormality. A second-order analysis revealed two broad-band Internalizing and Externalizing dimensions. The factors were shown to be similar to but different from DSM III categories as well as from other factor-analytic studies of adolescents. This study indicates that much research will be required before a consensus can be reached on the basic dimensions of psychopathology of adolescence.