Multiple informants' report of emotional and behavioural problems in a nation-wide sample of selective mute children and controls

Emotional and behavioural problems and competencies in a nation-wide sample of referred selective mute children (SM) and matched non-referred controls , aged 4-16 years, were assessed by the Child Behaviour Checklist, (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF) and Youth Self Report (YSR) (1). Main issues addr essed were the co-variation of internalising and externalising problems rep orted across informants, whether there exists a pure externalising group of children with SM, and the nature of the internalising and externalising pr oblems. The results show that the children with SM differed substantially f rom their peers in internalising problems as reported by the parents and th e teachers. In contrast, the results on the YSR indicated an under-reportin g of internalising problems. Externalising problems in SM were reported in a low to moderate degree by the parents only. No child with SM and pure ext ernalising symptoms was found. The children with SM differed mostly from th eir peers on the withdrawn scale. On the item level, both the internalising and the externalising symptoms that best differentiated the children with SM from the controls support the notion of SM as an expression of social an xiety.