COMORBIDITY OF EMPIRICALLY BASED SYNDROMES IN MATCHED GENERAL-POPULATION AND CLINICAL-SAMPLES

Comorbidity of deviance on eight empirically based syndromes was compa red in matched general population and clinical samples of 2,705 childr en aged 4-18, using a bidirectional formula to avoid confounding effec ts of differential base rates. Syndromes were assessed via parent rati ngs on the CBCL, teacher ratings on the TRF, and self ratings on the Y SR. Significantly higher comorbidity rates were obtained for clinical than general population samples for all 28 pairings of CBCL syndromes, 15 pairings of TRF syndromes, and 22 pairings of YSR syndromes. Bidir ectional comorbidity rates for empirically based syndromes were compar ed to pairings of comparable DSM-III diagnoses.