Network Structure of Youth-Collateral Discrepancies in Reported Psychopathology Symptoms

Objective: Evidence shows that reports of psychopathology symptoms from informants and youth differ. Such discrepancies are dependent on informant type and psychopathology characteristics but may also be related to sociodemographic and cultural factors. This study quantified youth-collateral discrepancies in symptoms and assessed the network structure of these discrepancies across psychopathology domains.Method: The sample (N = 5094) was extracted from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, a racially and socioeconomically diverse community-based sample of youth in the United States and consisted of participants ages 11-17 years old with both youth and collateral reports on psychopathology symptoms. We examined youth-collateral discrepancies and conducted network analysis to examine discrepancy patterns across the spectrum of psychopathology domains. In a novel approach, networks were constructed using youth-collateral difference scores to identify discrepancy patterns accounting for the effects of youth and collateral factors.Results: Across all domains, agreement ranged from just slight to fair. Psychosis symptoms had the lowest Cohen’s kappas with a range from 0.03 to 0.17. Absolute difference scores were greater than average for Black youth and for youth of low socioeconomic status. Difference score networks compared across race, socio-economic strata, sex and age-groups were not statistically significant. Difference scores were higher than average for all psychiatric disorder groups with the largest difference and the sparsest network structure for psychosis spectrum.Conclusion: Consideration of race and socioeconomic status is important when psychopathology symptom reports are obtained from youth and collaterals. Across major disorder groups, psychosis spectrum appear to have a distinct network structure of youth-collateral discrepancies. Such discrepancies could potentially be leveraged for early identification.