Advisor(s)
Carol A. Glod (1958-)
Contributor(s)
Alisa K. Lincoln, Eric Arden Youngstrom
Date of Award
2010
Date Accepted
8-2010
Degree Grantor
Northeastern University
Degree Level
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department or Academic Unit
Bouvé College of Health Sciences. School of Nursing
Keywords
health science, mental health, psychology, age, assessment, gender, pediatric bipolar disorder, race, screening instruments
Subject Categories
Manic-depressive illness in adolescence, Manic-depressive illness in children, Age factors in disease
Disciplines
Nursing
Abstract
Background: Little is known about racial, age or gender disparities in the assessment and diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. Objectives: To assess the psychometric properties of five commonly-used screening instruments in detecting bipolar disorder in youth. Design: A secondary analysis will be used to determine if a test item bias (or differential item functioning) exists within each of these instruments. Data from Dr. Eric Youngstrom's existing database of 758 African American and White families, with 303 female and 456 male subjects) will be used. Results: Measurement variance was found in the instruments between different racial and age groups and between genders. As seen in the results section, DIF was detected on specific items, indicating that the probability of a parent endorsing that item differs between equal groups due to group membership, rather than the construct (mania), which it is intended to measure. However, most differences were small and unlikely to be clinically-meaningful or influence diagnostic or treatment decisions in research or clinical practice. Conclusions: Further research using advanced methodology is needed to better understand how these instruments function between different racial and age groups and between genders and to better understand how the differences will affect research and clinical practice. Keywords: pediatric bipolar disorder, assessment, diagnosis, race, age, gender, screening instruments, rating scales and disparities.
Document Type
Dissertation
Rights Information
copyright 2010
Rights Holder
Mary Ann McDonnell
Permanent URL
Recommended Citation
McDonnell, Mary Ann, "Race, gender and age effects on the assessment of bipolar disorder in youth" (2010). Nursing Dissertations. Paper 1. http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20000351
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