Childhood Predictors of Psychiatric Disorders Among Boys: A Prospective Community-Based Follow-up Study From Age 8 Years to Early Adulthood

• NCJ Number: 210944
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 44 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2005 Pages: 756-767
• Author(s): Andre Sourander M.D.; Petteri Multimaki M.D.; Georgios Nikolakaros M.D.; Antti Haavisto M.D.; Terja Ristkari MNSc; Hans Helenius M.Sc.; Kai Parkola M.D.; Jorma Piha M.D.; Tuula Tamminen M.D.; Irma Moilanen M.D.; Kirsti Kumpulainen M.D.; Fredrik Almqvist M.D.
• Date Published: August 2005
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study followed a sample of 2,712 Finnish boys born in 1981 in order to identify early childhood predictors of early adulthood psychiatric disorders.

Abstract

At 8 years old, information on the boys' problem behaviors was obtained from their parents, teachers, and self-reports of the children themselves. At a 10-15-year follow-up, information on the sample's psychiatric disorders in early adulthood was obtained from Finland's national military register for the years 1999 and 2004. The register showed that 10.4 percent of the men had a psychiatric disorder in early adulthood. The problem behaviors reported by the boys' parents, teachers, and the boys' themselves at age 8 were clearly linked to the psychiatric disorders of early adulthood. Conduct symptoms at age 8 independently predicted substance abuse, antisocial personality, and psychotic disorders in early adulthood. Childhood depressive symptoms, poor school performance, and living in a nonintact family had an independent predictive association with antisocial personality and depressive disorders in early adulthood. Parent-reported emotional symptoms and self-reported psychosomatic symptoms independently predicted anxiety disorders in early adulthood. Approximately one-third of the boys who had used mental health services at age 8 had a psychiatric disorder in early adulthood. Among these service users, conduct and hyperkinetic symptoms predicted psychiatric disorders in early adulthood. The findings indicate the importance of childhood screening to identify and treat those behaviors and symptoms that, if left untreated, are likely to evolve into psychiatric disorders in early adulthood. 3 tables and 36 references