Diagnostic Specificity of a Brief Measure of Expressed Emotion: a Community Study of Children

The association between expressed emotion (EE) and psychiatric disorders was investigated in a community survey of 108 preadolescent children. Results indicated that the two components of EE, critical comments and emotional overinvolvement, identified non-overlapping subsets of families and displayed diagnostic specificity. Significantly higher rates of disruptive behavior diagnoses were observed in children of parents who expressed high levels of criticism, while children of parents who expressed high levels of emotional overinvolvement were significantly more likely to have an anxiety disorder when compared to the remaining sample. Findings support the utility of this brief measure of EE in epidemiologic samples.