A PIC profile typology of children and adolescents: 1. Empirically derived alternative to traditional diagnosis.

This study investigated the utility of a multidimensional instrument, the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC), to serve as the data base for an empirically derived typology of child and adolescent psychopathology. A cluster-analytic technique was applied to T-score ranges of the 12 PIC full-length substantive profile scales for two independent samples of emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children and adolescents that included six criterion marker samples (hyperactive, psychotic, retarded, cerebral dysfunction, somatic, delinquent), for a total sample of N = 1,782. Eleven profile clusters replicated across samples and classified 82% of these profiles. Further analyses indicated that these replicated clusters differed in age, sex, and criterion marker sample composition, as well as on 18 of the 19 ratings of pathology dimensions obtained from parents, teachers, and clinicians. These results support the conclusion that the PIC may be valuable in the development of an empirically based classification system.