Measurement of Irritability in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

While irritability is a symptom included in multiple DSM psychiatric illnesses, it has remained an ill-defined and underresearched phenomenon until relatively recently. There have been multiple attempts made to measure irritability in childhood and adolescence. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the various approaches used in the measurement and empirical study of pediatric irritability. In this chapter, the authors describe attempts at measuring irritability with standardized diagnostic interviews, and then discuss how variable- and person-centered statistical models have shaped these earliest measures. The authors discuss models and measures that are emerging, including the construct of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder as well as measures such as the Affective Reactivity Index and the Child Behavior Checklist-Dysregulation Profile. They conclude that, given the transdiagnostic nature of irritability, efforts should be made to understand the relationship of irritability to various forms of developmental psychopathology using multiple methods.