Behavioural and emotional symptoms in 8-9-year-old children

We present epidemiological data from a multi-centre study on psychiatric sy mptoms among 6017 8-9-year-old children representing a total annual birth c ohort (N = 60007) in Finland. The results are based on three questionnaires : the Rutter Parent Scale (RA2), the Rutter Teacher Scale (RB2), the Childr en's Depression Inventory (CDI). The proportion of children that scored abo ve the cutoff points, indicating probable psychiatric disturbance, were 11. 2% for the RA2, 13.9% for the RB2 and 6.9% for the CDI. Twenty-four percent of the subjects scored above the cutoff point on at least one of the quest ionnaires. Low family social status and disrupted family relations correlat ed strongly with high rates of symptoms in the children.