Emotional distress in adolescent psychiatric inpatients: direct and indirect measures

This study examined whether adolescent male psychiatric inpatients were less likely than comparable female inpatients to communicate their feelings on direct measures of emotional distress. Ninety-one adolescent psychiatric inpatients were assessed using the Rorschach, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and other measures of emotional distress. In general, male and female subjects reported highly similar levels and patterns of distress whether direct or indirect measures were used. Although the direct measures showed evidence of convergent validity, the indirect measures were largely uncorrelated with each other and with the direct measures. These results suggest that the assessment of emotional distress in both male and female adolescent inpatients is best facilitated by the use of direct measures.