Personality Disorder Symptomatology Associated with Adolescent Depression and Substance Abuse

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the extent to which adolescent depression and substance abuse are associated with personality disorder symptomatology. The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire—Revised (PDQ-R), the Revised Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), and a standard retrospective substance use diary were administered to 441 undergraduate students, 166 of whom completed the substance use diary at baseline, with readministrations 1 and 2 months later. Results indicated that: (1) Depressed adolescents reported significantly greater symptomatology on the PDQ-R antisocial, avoidant, borderline, paranoid, passive-aggressive, schizotypal, and composite scales than did nondepressed adolescents, even after global psychiatric symptomatology was controlled statistically. (2) Heavy users of alcohol, marijuana, and/or tobacco reported significantly greater symptomatology on the PDQ-R antisocial, borderline, and composite scales than did adolescents in a comparison group, after global psychiatric symptomatology was controlled statistically. (3) Adolescents diagnosed with personality disorders were 10 times as likely as those without personality disorders to be identified as depressed cases and were more than twice as likely as those without personality disorders to be heavy users of alcohol, marijuana, and/or tobacco.