Abstract
Objective:
We aimed to determine predictive factors for application to a psychiatry unit by investigating the distribution and frequency of psychiatric complaints in clinical and community samples of children between ages 1-4 years. In addition, we aimed to compare mothers and fathers in terms of psychiatric complaints they had reported.
Method:
Clinical sample (n:207) and randomized stratifi ed community sample (n:462) were assessed for presence of psychiatric and developmental problems. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Brief Infant and Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) were fi lled out.
Results:
In the community sample, most prevalent complaints were reported to be “sleep problems” (9.7%), “fears” (9.5%), “harming others” (5.8%), “language and speech problems” (5.0%). In the clinical sample, most prevalent complaints were “delayed speech” (40.3%), “hyperactivity” (20.9%), “aggression” (19.9%), “harming others” (18.4%), and “stubbornness” (16.0%). Logistic regression analysis to determine predictive factors of application to a psychiatry unit revealed that some factors (esp. “delayed speech”, “hyperactivity”, “aggression”, “stubbornness”, “social withdrawal”) signifi cantly predicted the psychiatric application. The results also reveal that mothers were more sensitive to psychiatric problems.
Keywords: Early childhood, psychiatric application, symptom distribution
