ADHD Prevalence in Spanish Preschoolers: Comorbidity, Socio-Demographic Factors, and Functional Consequences.

OBJECTIVE: The object was to examine the prevalence of ADHD among preschoolers, analyzing comorbidity, and the association with socio-demographic factors. METHOD: We conducted a two-phase epidemiological study of 1,104 preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years in Catalonia, Spain. The Early Childhood Inventory-4 (ECI-4) was administered to parents and teachers. Children at risk of ADHD were assessed using open-ended face-to-face interviews and were observed in a school setting. ADHD diagnoses were based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) criteria. RESULTS: The prevalence of ADHD diagnosis was 5.4%. Male sex and first-born status were risk factors for ADHD. Parents reported more symptoms (12.9%) than teachers (8.7%). Behavioral problems (odds ratio [OR] = 12, p = .001), autism spectrum disorder problems (OR = 9.5, p = .001), and obsessive-compulsive problems and tics (OR = 5.9, p = .001) were specifically related to ADHD diagnosis. Mother's health status and school achievement were lower in ADHD children. CONCLUSION: Even at early stages of development, ADHD has high rates of comorbidity and a significant impact on school performance and family health.

Parent and teacher ratings of temperamental disposition to social anxiety: the BIS 3-6.

Behavioral inhibition (BI) discourages children from interacting, predisposing them to isolation, social anxiety, and depression. We have created the Behavioral Inhibition Scale for Children Aged 3 to 6 (BIS 3-6) to detect this trait early. Parents and teachers of 365 preschoolers completed different versions of the BIS 3-6 and provided measures of psychopathology. Both versions are structured into 1 factor that explains over 40% of total variability and displays excellent internal consistency (α = .95). The moderate correlations with measures of internalizing symptoms (r = .50) and nonexistent correlations with externalizing measures suggest adequate convergent and discriminant validity. A new scoring system is proposed.

Who should report abnormal behavior at preschool age? The case of behavioral inhibition.

Children who are behaviorally "inhibited"-a condition at the extreme of the behavioral inhibition dimension-experience distress in uncertain social situations. Although parents and teachers are in the best position to detect this condition, they rarely agree. This study aims to analyze the agreement between parents and teachers and to examine the relations between ratings made by parents and teachers and assessments made by clinicians and researchers. Parents, teachers and clinicians rated the behavioral inhibition of 365 preschoolers. Seventy-three randomly selected participants were observed using an adaptation of the Behavioral Inhibition Paradigm. Parent-teacher correlations on 34 items and different clusters were, on average, r = .3. The degree of convergence between observational measures and ratings by parents and teachers was moderate-low and did not improve when considering only subsamples from the ends of the distributions. Discriminant analysis suggests that both parents and teachers tend to have a moderate-low ability to detect "inhibited" children.

Teacher reports of peer aggression in preschool: its relationship to DSM-IV externalizing symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: to establish the prevalence and associations of peer aggression as manifested in preschool children, in community-based populations and to study links with DSM-IV externalizing diagnoses. METHOD: Subjects were 1104 children, 3-to-5-year-olds attending rural and urban pre-schools classes. Teachers completed the Peer Conflict Scale (PCS) to inform about direct physical and verbal aggression, object aggression and symbolic aggression and the questionnaire on psychopathology ECI-4. RESULTS: 6.6% (n=73) had at least one positive item on the PCS. This percentage dropped to 2.6% (n=29) if we take into account a minimum of three positive items. Physical direct aggression was the more prevalent type of aggressive behavior, followed by verbal aggression, object aggression and symbolic aggression. Significant differences by gender and age were found. Peer aggression was associated with male gender from three years of age. Physical, object and verbal aggressive behavior was linked with externalizing disorders. This association was very strong with oppositional disorder. CONCLUSIONS: The present research with a Spanish population confirms the existence of peer aggression in preschoolers and the gender differences. Our chief contribution is about the age of emergence of sex differences and gender differences in different types of peer aggression.

Parents and teachers reports of DSM-IV psychopathological symptoms in preschool children: differences between urban-rural Spanish areas.

BACKGROUND: This study used DSM-IV criteria to analyse reports from teachers and parents and to compare behavioural and emotional symptoms in Spanish preschool children from both urban and rural populations. METHOD: The field survey was conducted in two geographical areas in Catalonia (Spain). A sample of 1104 children (56.67% boys and 43.32% girls) aged 3-6 years participated in this study: 697 were from urban areas and 408 from rural ones. The Early Childhood Inventory-teachers' and parents' versions (ECI-4) [Gadow KD, Sprafkin J (1997)-was used as the screening instrument. RESULTS: The teachers' and parents' reports assigned 32.7 and 46.7%, respectively, to one or more ECI-4 categories. Significant differences between sexes were found in teachers' reports. The whole disorders were significantly more prevalent in the urban sample than in the rural one (30.6 vs. 20.3%). The most prevalent disorders in both areas were Anxiety Disorders and Behavioural Problems, and the least prevalent were Mood Disorders and Autistic Disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that there are some differences in the prevalence rates of preschool psychopathological disorders between rural and urban Spanish areas.

Problemas para dormir en la etapa preescolar / Sleep problems in preschool children

El objetivo de este estudio fue conocer la prevalencia, referida por los padres, de los problemas para dormir durante la etapa preescolar, y analizar su relación con variables sociofamiliares y psicopatológicas. Un total de 851 niños de edades comprendidas entre los 3 y los 6 años fueron evaluados mediante el Early Childhood Inventory-Parents Cheklist (ECI-4), un instrumento que permite valorar síntomas de trastornos psicopatológicos a partir de criterios DSM-IV. Además se administró el General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) a los padres y se obtuvo información relativa a la estructura familiar, los hábitos familiares y de vida del niño y la presencia de acontecimientos vitales estresantes. Un 19.0 por ciento de la muestra estudiada presenta problemas para dormir. Estos problemas están asociados a la presencia de psicopatología en el niño y problemas de salud en sus padres. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que la aparición de problemas para dormir durante la etapa preescolar debe ser considerada como un signo de alarma de la presencia de un problema específico del sueño pero a la vez de otro problema, quizás incluso más grave, de carácter psicosocial o psicopatológico (AU)

Evaluación de la sintomatología depresiva del preescolar: correspondencia entre los informes de padres y de madres / Assesment of preschool simptomatology depession: correspondence between reports by parents and teachers

Se ha recomendado el uso de múltiples informantes para evaluar la sintomatología infantil. Se analiza la concordancia entre las informaciones de padres y de educadores de la sintomatología depresiva de los niños y niñas de edad preescolar. Se evaluaron 998 niños/as de edad preescolar (3-6 años) de la ciudad de Sabadell (Vallès Occidental, Barcelona). Se administró "The General Rating of Affective Symptoms for Preschoolers" (GRASP). La concordancia entre las evaluaciones de padres y educadores es baja para el total de la escala y para las cuatro subescalas. Los maestros señalan más los síntomas emocionales. Los padres puntuaron más alto en los síntomas comportamentales. Existe una alta concordancia entre maestros y padres ante la no presencia de síntomas (AU)

The use of multiple informants has been recommended for the assessment of childhood psychopathology. Agreement parent-teachers report of preschool depressive symptomatology is analyzed here. 998 boys and girls, 3-6-years old, from the city of Sabadell (Vallès Occidental, Barcelona) were assessed. They were administered the «General Rating of Affective Symptoms for Preschoolers» (GRASP). Inter-informant agreement has been low for the overall diagnosis and for the four subscales. Teachers have reported more emotional symptoms than parents and parents have reported more behavioural symptoms than teachers. The agreement between parents’ and teachers’ reports of the absence of symptomatology has been high (AU)