Psychiatric symptoms in children with intellectual disability

• Published in: European child & adolescent psychiatry 1999-01, Vol.8 Suppl 4 (S4), p.77-S82
• Main Authors: Linna, S L, Moilanen, I, Ebeling, H, Piha, J, Kumpulainen, K, Tamminen, T, Almqvist, F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child Behavior Disorders - complications; Child Behavior Disorders - diagnosis; Child Behavior Disorders - epidemiology; Child psychology; Children & youth; Diagnosis, Differential; Education, Special; Elementary schools; Epidemiology; Female; Finland; Finland - epidemiology; Humans; Intellectual disabilities; Intellectual Disability - complications; Intellectual Disability - diagnosis; Intellectual Disability - epidemiology; Learning disabled young children; Male; Mental disorders; Mental health; Mood Disorders - complications; Mood Disorders - diagnosis; Mood Disorders - epidemiology; Prevalence; Psychiatric symptoms; Questionnaires; Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teachers
• ISSN: 1018-8827; 1435-165X
• DOI: 10.1007/pl00010704

In a sample of almost 6000 8-year-old children, we found that 1.5% attended special schools for the educationally subnormal, or training schools. Psychiatric symptoms were studied by means of three screening instruments: the Rutter Parent Questionnaire (RA2) for the parents, the Rutter Teacher Questionnaire (RB2) for the teachers, and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) for the children. The prevalence rate of children identified as possibly suffering from a psychiatric disturbance was 32.2% according to the RA2. The corresponding prevalence rate for the RB2 was 34.2%. According to the CDI 11.0% had depressive disturbance. All types of disturbances were more frequent among the intellectually disabled children as compared to the nondisabled children. The differences were statistically significant for emotional and mixed types of disturbance on the RA2, and for emotional and conduct types of disturbance on the RB2.