ARTICLES
Development of a Short Leyton Obsessional Inventory for Children and Adolescents

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ABSTRACT

Objective:

To develop a short, cost-effective screening measure for adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Method:

The 20-item Leyton Obsessional Inventory-Child Version and the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire were completed by five groups of adolescents: those with a predominant DSM-IV diagnosis of OCD (n = 9), major depressive disorder with comorbid OCD (n = 14), major depressive disorder without comorbid OCD (n = 65), a community sample including subjects at high risk for psychopathology (n = 253), and well controls (n = 50). Leyton Obsessional Inventory scores for the community sample (n = 253) were factor analyzed, whereas the remaining groups’ scores served as validation.

Results:

Factor analysis yielded a robust 11-item solution with three distinct components accounting for 47.6% of total variance. Internal reliability was high for the short scale total (Cronbach α = .86) and three subscales: Compulsions (α = .73), Obsessions/Incompleteness (α = .79), and Cleanliness (α = .75). Logistic regression found the Compulsions subscale discriminated OCD cases from community controls and discriminated major depressive disorder with and without comorbid OCD. The Obsessions subscale discriminated OCD cases from community, well control, and depressed nonobsessional groups.

Conclusions:

The Short Leyton Obsessional Inventory-Child Version is a psychometrically sound, quick, economical screen that discriminates OCD cases from noncases irrespective of comorbid major depressive disorder.

Section snippets

Participants

The community sample (COM) was recruited from Cambridgeshire secondary schools as part of a prospective study of affective, cognitive, and endocrine predictors of depression (Goodyer et al., 2000). Exclusion criteria were current chronic and potentially life-threatening illness, learning difficulties, limited understanding of English, or recent psychiatric illness (within 3 months of the date of assessment). This nonclinical sample contained individuals with a range of subclinical symptoms who

Factor Analysis of the Community Sample Scores

Rotated varimax factor analysis on scores from the 253 community subjects yielded an 11-item, 3-factor solution (Table 2). The three factors were labeled “compulsions,” “obsessions/incompleteness,” and “concern with cleanliness.” These subscales accounted for 19.8%, 15.2%, and 12.6% of the total variance, respectively, and 47.6% in total. The factor threshold of 0.63 was exceeded for all items in the short measure, with one exception that loaded at 0.62 (see item 14, Table 2). Inter-subscale

DISCUSSION

The study set out to develop a short screen for symptoms of OCD for use with children and adolescents and to explore its ability to function independently of depressed mood. Factor analysis of 253 community adolescents’ responses to the 20-item LOI-CV yielded a robust 11-item measure with three distinct factors: compulsions, obsessions/incompleteness, and concern with cleanliness. These findings closely mirror those from a principal components analysis on responses of 302 normal adults to the

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    • Cited by (0)

    This work was supported by project and program grants from the Wellcome Trust and a project grant from the PPP Foundation and completed within the MRC Co-operative in Brain, Behavior, and Neuropsychiatry. The authors thank Professor John Cooper for his comments, Dr. Malcolm Adams and Dr. Carol Stott for their advice on statistical analysis, and all the children and adolescents who contributed to this study. Article Plus (online-only) materials for this article appear on the Journal's Web site: www.jaacap.com.

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    Copyright © 2002 The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.