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Marital discord and psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents

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Abstract

The relationship between marital discord and any DISC-2.1/DSM-III-R child psychiatric diagnosis was explored. Interview data from a community sample of 90 parent/child pairs and a clinic sample of 37 parent/child pairs were analysed. The data were collected at Columbia University/the New York State Psychiatric Institute as part of the pilot project of a multi-site methodological study. Rates of marital discord and DISC diagnoses were found higher in the clinic sample than in the community sample. The association between marital discord and any diagnosis remained significant when other risk and protective factors were controlled. Policy implications and recommendations for future research strategies suggested by the current exploratory study were discussed.

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Lorenz, G., Hoven, C., Andrews, H.F. et al. Marital discord and psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents. J Child Fam Stud 4, 341–358 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02233967

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