Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry · May 2009
Construct and differential item functioning in the assessment of prescription opioid use disorders among American adolescents.
To examine the psychometric properties of diagnostic criteria for prescription analgesic opioid use disorders (OUDs) and to identify background predictors of a latent continuum for OUD liability. ⋯ Study findings do not support the DSM-IV's current hierarchical distinction between abuse of and dependence on prescription opioids. Abuse symptoms in adolescents are not necessarily less severe than those of dependence. There is evidence of some differential item functioning in the assessment of OUDs.