Effects of individual differences, society, and culture on youth-rated problems and strengths in 38 societies.

Background: Clinicians increasingly serve youths from societal/cultural backgrounds different from their own. This raises questions about how to interpret what such youths report. Rescorla et al.

Testing Syndromes of Psychopathology in Parent and Youth Ratings Across Societies.

As societies become increasingly diverse, mental health professionals need instruments for assessing emotional, behavioral, and social problems in terms of constructs that are supported within and across societies. Building on decades of research findings, multisample alignment confirmatory factor analyses tested an empirically based 8-syndrome model on parent ratings across 30 societies and youth self-ratings across 19 societies. The Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 and Youth Self-Report for Ages 11-18 were used to measure syndromes descriptively designated as , and .

Cigarette smoking among Greek adolescents: behavior, attitudes, risk, and preventive factors.

Unlabelled: This study was produced in the context of the first author's thesis at Athens University and was a collaboration between the Department of Clinical Care Medicine, Athens University, and Attiki Child Psychiatric Hospital. It was supported by a project grant from the THORAX Foundation, Greece.

Objective: To study the smoking behavior, attitudes, and beliefs of Greek adolescents, as well as the risk and preventive factors for the onset of smoking and to obtain data to serve in the planning of comprehensive antismoking campaigns tailored to the Greek adolescent's specific profile.

Posttraumatic stress and depressive reactions among children and adolescents after the 1999 earthquake in Ano Liosia, Greece.

Objective: This study evaluated the severity of posttraumatic stress and depressive reactions among children and adolescents 3 months after the 1999 earthquake in Ano Liosia, Greece, and additionally assessed the relationship of these reactions to objective and subjective features of earthquake exposure, sex, school level, postearthquake difficulties, death of a family member, and thoughts of revenge.

Method: This school-based study of 1,937 students was conducted in two differentially exposed cities (Ano Liosia, at the epicenter, and Dafni, 10 kilometers from the epicenter) with an earthquake exposure questionnaire, the UCLA Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Reaction Index, and the Depression Self-Rating Scale.

Results: Endorsement of earthquake-related exposure items between the two cities was congruent with the extent of earthquake impact in each city.

The Leyton obsessional inventory - child version in Greek adolescents: standardization in a national school-based survey and two-year follow-up.

Objective: The aims of this study were a) to standardize the survey form of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory - Child Version (Leyton-CV) in Greece, and estimate its sensitivity and specificity, and b) to assess high-risk factors for the development of adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) within a two year period.

Method: The Leyton-CV was administered to a national, representative, school-based population of 2552 Greek adolescents. Adolescents with a wide range of Leyton-CV scores were interviewed with the SADS-LA to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the instrument.