The Pittsburgh Girls Study: Overview and Initial Findings

Abstract

The Pittsburgh Girls Study is a longitudinal, community–based study of 2,451 girls who were initially recruited when they were between the ages of 5 and 8 years. The primary aim of the study was testing developmental models of conduct disorder, major depressive disorder, and their co-occurrence in girls. In the current article, we summarize the published findings from the past 5 years of the PGS and place those results in the context of what it known to date about developmental psychopathology in girls. Key results suggest that DSM–IV mental disorders tend to have an insidious onset often beginning with subsyndromal symptom manifestation, and that there appear to be shared and unique developmental precursors to disorder in subgroups of girls based on race and poverty.

The Pittsburgh Girls Study and its substudies are supported by the following grants: R01 MH56630 to Dr. Loeber, R01 DA012237 to Drs. Loeber and Chung, R01 MH66167 and R03 MH084073 to Dr. Keenan, K01 MH071790 to Dr. Hipwell, and K08 DK067192 to Dr. McTigue. I thank Karen Mizelle, Rebecca DeSensi, Deena Battista, Steve, Pype, Jen Jacobs, and the data collection and management staff of the PGS. I also recognize the families of the PGS and are grateful for their continued participation.

Notes

Note. n = 2,451.

^a N = 588.

^b N = 630.

^c N = 611.

^d N = 622.

^e For three girls, the race is unknown.

Note. ADHD = Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; ODD = Oppositional Defiant Disorder; CD = Conduct Disorder; BMI = body mass index.