In the absence of a gold standard

PhD Ceremony: dhr. A. Noordhof, 13.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: In the absence of a gold standard

Promotor(s): prof.dr. J. Ormel, prof.dr. A.J. Oldehinkel

Faculty: Medical Sciences

Contact: via de persvoorlichters van het UMCG, tel. 050-361 2200, e-mail: voorlichting bvl.umcg.nl

In this thesis I confronted a few issues concerning measurement, diagnosis and underlying structure of psychopathology. In the introduction the viewpoint was expressed that there are no gold-standard measures of psychopathology. Subsequently, in chapter 1 it was shown how covariance between symptoms of several domains of psychopathology can be captured by dimensions rather than all-or-nothing diagnoses. It was also shown that the estimated association between two specific dimensions of psychopathology (‘internalizing’ and ‘externalizing’) was very much dependent on the way information from different informants was used. Furthermore, discrepancies between self- and parent-reported problems showed remarkable stability during adolescence. In the conclusion to the theses I propose a way of interpreting information from multiple informants in which discrepancies are not removed by integrating all information into one diagnosis. This approach can be used both in research and clinical practice.