Comparisons of conduct and affective disordered youth: a psychometric investigation of responses to the Children's Depression Inventory.

Scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) for 103 affective and 125 conduct disordered psychiatric inpatients aged 6-17 were subjected to cluster analysis of variables using average linkage (with arccosine transformation) as a means of investigating differences in CDI response patterns between the two groups. Both vertical (hierarchical) and horizontal (nested) clusters were examined. The investigation indicated hierarchical clusters for the affective disordered group dealing with sadness and isolation, a negative self-image, and self-loathing. For the conduct disordered group, clusters centered hierarchically around a defeated attitude, being upset, not having fun anymore and not wanting to be with other people, and difficulty with academic performance.