ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: This study aims to determine the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in a community sample of Singaporean children aged 6-12 years, and its agreement according to parent, teacher and child reports. METHODS: The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Rating Form (TRF) and child report questionnaires for depression and anxiety were administered to a community sample of primary school children. 60 percent of the children sampled (n = 2,139) agreed to participate. Parents of a sub-sample of 203 children underwent a structured clinical interview. RESULTS: Higher prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems was identified by CBCL (12.5 percent) than by TRF (2.5 percent). According to parent reports, higher rates of internalising problems (12.2 percent) compared to externalising problems (4.9 percent), were found. Parent-teacher agreement was higher for externalising problems than for internalising problems. Correlations between child-reported depression and anxiety, and parent and teacher reports were low to moderate, but were better for parent reports than for teacher reports. CONCLUSION: The prevalence rates of emotional and behavioural problems in Singaporean children based on CBCL ratings are comparable to those in the West, but the low response rate and exclusion of children with special needs limit the generalisability of our findings. Singaporean children have higher rates of internalising problems compared to externalising problems, while Western children have higher rates of externalising problems compared to internalising problems.
Subject(s)
Affective Symptoms/diagnosis , Affective Symptoms/epidemiology , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Child Behavior Disorders/epidemiology , Parent-Child Relations , Adult , Age Distribution , Child , Cross-Sectional Studies , Educational Status , Female , Humans , Male , Mental Health , Parents , Personality Assessment , Prevalence , Probability , Risk Factors , Severity of Illness Index , Sex Distribution , Singapore/epidemiology , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and Questionnaires , TeachingSubject(s)
Child Behavior , Child Rearing/ethnology , Punishment , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Parents , SingaporeABSTRACT
We report a retrospective study examining the prevalence, demographic profile and pattern of psychiatric morbidity of theft offenders remanded for psychiatric assessment by the Singapore courts. Case records of 100 male and 100 female consecutively remanded theft offenders were reviewed. There was a high rate of psychopathology, with schizophrenia as the commonest disorder. Sex differences were identified in demographic profiles, psychiatric diagnoses, types of offences committed and likely psychiatric determinants of the offence. Depression was more common in females while substance abuse and antisocial personality disorder were diagnosed more frequently in males.
