ABSTRACT
Acquiring information regarding the extend and prevalence of pediatric behavioral disorders and their predisposing factors is essential in improving psychological services and establishing preventive indicators for children's mental health. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of behavioral disorders of school age children and related epidemiological factors, in Gorgan city, in 2005-2006. A cross sectional study was carried out using multistage cluster sampling method to recruit 2600 school age children. Data were collected through Rutter's parent questionnaire [RA[2] a standard tool which parents completed. A cutoff point of 13 was considered and children with total score of 13 or more were regarded to be disordered. Descriptive statistics and odds-Ratio and chi-square tests were used to analysis the data. Most of the samples were female [52.8%], first child with mean age of 9.25 +/- 1.5, having both parents living with them [94.5%] and were studying in governmental schools [72.7%]. in view of the regarded cutoff point, 18.4% of children suffered from behavioral disorders. There was significant correlations between having behavioral disorder with being in single parent family, crowded and low income families, history of crisis during the previous year, job and education of the parents, and children schools [P<0.05]. Considering the higher prevalence of behavior disorders found in current study compare to many others, investigating the explanations and reasons for as well as providing educational and consultation services is necessary