Assessment of life stress in adolescents: Self-report versus interview methods

Objective: To compare the investigator-based Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS) with a self-report measure (Life Events Checklist [LEC]) for the purpose of measuring life stress in adolescents with and without a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Method: Adolescents (aged 13-18 years) with a recent episode of MDD based on DSM-III-R (n=35) and normal controls free of any Axis I lifetime psychiatric disorder (n=35) were assessed using both the LEC and the LEDS. Results: Both measures predicted membership in the depressed and nondepressed groups of adolescents. Adolescents in the depressed group were more likely to report a severe event on the LEDS (97%) than adolescents in the nondepressed group (66%) (p=.001). Similarly, subjects in the depressed group endorsed a greater number of negative events (mean = 8.1) on the LEC than subjects in the nondepressed group (mean = 3.0) (p=.0001). An examination of potential provoking agents for episodes of major depression revealed that the LEC captured only 32% of preonset severe events and 36% of preonset major difficulties identified by the LEDS. Conclusions: Interpreted in light of relative advantages and disadvantages, the results suggest that checklist and interview measures each have distinct advantages depending on the purpose for which they are being used.