Assessing Functional Impairment in Youth: Development of the Adolescent Life Interference Scale for Internalizing Symptoms (ALIS-I)

Carolyn A Schniering; Miriam K Forbes; Ronald M Rapee; Viviana M Wuthrich; Alexander H Queen; Jill Ehrenreich-May

doi:10.1007/s10578-021-01241-3

Assessing Functional Impairment in Youth: Development of the Adolescent Life Interference Scale for Internalizing Symptoms (ALIS-I)

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2023 Apr;54(2):508-519. doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01241-3. Epub 2021 Oct 16.

Authors

Carolyn A Schniering^{1

2}, Miriam K Forbes³, Ronald M Rapee⁴, Viviana M Wuthrich³, Alexander H Queen⁵, Jill Ehrenreich-May⁶

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia. carolyn.schniering@mq.edu.au.
² Department of Psychology, University of Miami, 5665 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA. carolyn.schniering@mq.edu.au.
³ Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia. Ron.Rapee@mq.edu.au.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Miami, 5665 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA.

PMID: 34655359
DOI: 10.1007/s10578-021-01241-3

Abstract

This study described the psychometric properties of a self-report measure of functional impairment related to anxiety and depression in adolescents, the Adolescent Life Interference Scale for Internalizing symptoms (ALIS-I). A clinical sample of 266 adolescents and a community sample of 63 adolescents, aged 11 to 18 years (Mean = 14.7, SD = 1.71) completed the ALIS-I and additional measures assessing internalizing problems. Exploratory factor analyses indicated four distinct but correlated factors of life interference related to personal withdrawal/avoidance, peer problems, problems with study/work, and somatic symptoms. Reliability and retest reliability (8-12 weeks) of the total score were high and psychometric properties of the subscales were acceptable. The ALIS-I effectively discriminated between clinical and community control groups, and expected correlations were shown between ALIS-I subscales and other related symptom measures. The ALIS-I is a promising instrument for the assessment of functional impairment related to internalizing disorders in youth.

Keywords: Anxiety; Assessment; Depression; Internalizing disorders; Psychometrics.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety Disorders*
Anxiety* / diagnosis
Humans
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Self Report