Background: Irritable mood has recently become a matter of intense scientific interest. Here, we present data from two samples, one from the United States and the other from the United Kingdom, demonstrating the clinical and research utility of the parent- and self-report forms of the Affective Reactivity Index (ARI), a concise dimensional measure…

Background: For adult physical and mental health, the population mean predicts the proportion of individuals with "high" scores. This has not previously been investigated for child mental health. It is also unclear how far symptom scores on brief questionnaires provide an unbiased method of comparing children with different individual,…

Background: While there is considerable evidence of income gradients in child and adolescent behaviour problems, evidence relating to children and young people's emotional difficulties is more mixed. Older studies reported no income differentials, while recent reports suggest that adolescents from low-income families are more likely to experience…

Background: The development of epidemiological instruments has enabled the assessment of mental disorders in youth in countries that plan policy according to evidence-based principles. The Israel Survey of Mental Health among Adolescents (ISMEHA) was conducted in 2004-2005 in a representative sample of 957 adolescents aged 14-17 and their mothers.…

Objective: To evaluate the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a U.S. national population sample of children and adolescents, develop normative scoring bands, and test the association of high-scoring groups with service contacts or use for mental health reasons. Method: An Americanized version of the Strengths and Difficulties…