Childhood mental disorders are a growing issue in early learning and K-12 education and today researchers reported 13 percent of children had at least one diagnosed mental disorder, with roughly half of that group receiving treatment.
The study is a landmark effort to measure mental disorders among U.S. children, in this case ages 8 to 15, and the results are sobering.
The most common illness was attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, with 8.6 percent of children in the study reporting that issue, followed by 3.7 percent with a mood disorder, 2.1 percent with conduct disorder and 0.7 percent with panic or generalized anxiety disorder, according to the study published today in Pediatrics.
Relatively few children, 0.1 percent had an eating disorder, according to the report “Prevalence and Treatment of Mental Disorders Among US Children.” (Abstract)
The relevance to early learning is obvious, since it’s quite possible symptoms of these disorders could show up when children are in child care, preschool and pre-kindergarten. Plus, childhood mental disorders have increasingly captured the attention of the public and the media – more references to the topic appeared in the media over the last two years than in the preceding decade, researchers wrote. As doctors, educators and researchers continue to explore and recommend early intervention for these disorders, attention should only increase.
The New York Times, for example, reported Saturday that “Poor Children (are) Likelier to Get Antipsychotics.”
And we are still in the early stages of understanding mental disorders among kids.
It provides the first estimates of the prevalence of specific DSM-IV– defined mental disorders in the US population of children and adolescents. –“Prevalence and Treatment of Mental Disorders Among US Children.” Pediatrics, 12/14/09.
Another issue is this study did not explore the topic that often dominates news of children’s mental development: autism. The neurodevelopment disorder is a developmental disability, not a psychiatric disorder, but it is clearly an issue of brain development.
While today’s study is important, it also has limits, including that it relied on a parent’s report that their child had a mental disorder, not a doctor, clinician or researcher.
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