PREVALENCE OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDERS - THE ZURICHEPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY

Psychiatric disorders were studied in an epidemiological and represent ative sample of 1964 pupils attending the first to ninth grade in vari ous types of schools in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Using a two -stage procedure, parents were asked to respond to a standardized beha viour problem checklist in the screening phase. Ln the second stage, s tructured interviews were performed with 399 parents representing both screen positive and control children. DSM-III-R diagnoses were derive d from the interviews. The total prevalence figure for any disorder am ounted to 22.5%. Prevalence rates were influenced by the multi-screen procedure. Among various correlates, sex, nationality, age and residen ce were to some extent significant. Comorbid disorders were present in 12.5% of the subjects.