ARE AMERICAN CHILDRENS PROBLEMS GETTING WORSE - A 13-YEAR COMPARISON

Objective: To determine whether the prevalence of children's behaviora l/emotional problems changed significantly over a 13-year period. Meth od: Problems and competencies reported by parents and teachers for a r andom sample of 7 to 16 year olds assessed in 1989 were compared with those reported by parents for a 1976 sample and by teachers for a 1981 to 1982 sample. Pa-rent reports were obtained with the Child Behavior Checklist; teacher reports were obtained with the Teacher's Report Fo rm. Results: Problem scores were higher and competence scores were low er in 1989 than in the earlier assessments. The secular changes were s mall but included diverse problems, syndromes, and competencies. Chang es did not differ significantly by age, gender, socioeconomic status, nor black/white ethnicity. Correlations of 0.97 to 0.99 between rankin gs of item scores across 7.5- and 13-year intervals support the stabil ity of the assessment procedures. Despite increases in problem scores, the 1989 U.S. scores were not higher than those in several other cult ures- Conclusions: Viewed categorically in terms of caseness, more unt reated children in the 1989 than the 1976 sample would be considered t o need help. Multicohort longitudinal studies now in progress will tes t predictors of within- and between-cohort change.