Intermittent explosive disorder-integrated research diagnostic criteria: Convergent and discriminant validity

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric research Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 231 - 242
• Main Authors: McCloskey, Michael S., Berman, Mitchell E., Noblett, Kurtis L., Coccaro, Emil F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Aggression; Aggression - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Diagnosis; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Discriminant Analysis; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders - diagnosis; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders - epidemiology; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders - psychology; Female; Humans; Intermittent explosive disorder; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Observer Variation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reproducibility of Results; Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity; Validity; Intermittent explosive disorder; Diagnosis; Aggression; Test validation; Discriminant validity; Convergent validity; Psychometrics
• ISSN: 0022-3956; 1879-1379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2005.07.004

Research on intermittent explosive disorder (IED) has been hindered by vague and restrictive DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Integrated research criteria have been developed for IED (IED-IR) that address the DSM-IV criteria’s shortcomings. The purpose of this study was to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the IED-IR criteria set by comparing adults meeting these criteria ( n = 56) to healthy controls ( n = 56) and to individuals with an Axis I major mental disorder ( n = 33) or an Axis II personality disorder ( n = 22) diagnoses on measures of aggression (self-report and behavioral) and global functioning. IED-IR individuals demonstrated higher levels of aggression compared to the other three groups, and were rated as more impaired than the healthy control and Axis I individuals. Subgroup analyses showed that IED-IR subjects who did not meet DSM IED criteria did not differ from DSM IED subjects on self-report measures of aggressiveness or global functioning. Furthermore, the IED-IR subjects evidenced more behavioral aggression than their DSM-IED counterparts.