Prevalence of auditory hallucinations in Norwegian adolescents: Results from a population‐based study |
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| Authors: | Kristiina Kompus Else‐Marie Løberg Maj‐Britt Posserud Astri Johansen Lundervold |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway;2. NORMENT Center of Excellence, University of Oslo, Norway;3. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway;4. Division of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway;5. Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Uni Health, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway;6. K.G. Jebsen Centre for Research on Neuropsychiatric Disorders, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway |
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| Abstract: | Knowing the prevalence and characteristics of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in adolescents is important for estimations of need for mental health care and assessment of psychosis risk. In this report we assess the prevalence of AVH in a population‐based sample of 16–19 years old Norwegian adolescents (n = 9,646, 46.4% male) using two items assessing AVH (from the extended Launay‐Slade Hallucination Scale). The prevalence of hearing a voice speaking thoughts aloud was 10.6%. The prevalence of being troubled by voices was 5.3%, showing that negative emotionality about AVH is less frequent than the experience of hearing voices. Female respondents had slightly increased risk for being troubled by voices than males (odds ratio = 1.3), while age did not modulate prevalence. This AVH prevalence is in line with earlier reports in smaller samples of adolescents and indicates that AVH are not uncommon in this period of life. Further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the value of AVH in predicting psychiatric disorder. |
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| Keywords: | Auditory hallucinations adolescents |
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