Prevalence and correlates of mental disorders among adolescents in Italy: the PrISMA study

Abstract

Background: While in the last 5 years several studies have been conducted in Italy on the prevalence of mental disorders in adults, to date no epidemiological study has been targeted on mental disorders in adolescents. Method: A two-phase study was conducted on 3,418 participants using the child behavior checklist/6–18 (CBCL) and the development and well-being assessment (DAWBA), a structured interview with verbatim reports reviewed by clinicians. Results: The prevalence of CBCL caseness and DSM-IV disorders was 9.8% (CI 8.8–10.8%) and 8.2% (CI 4.2–12.3%), respectively. DSM-IV Emotional disorders were more frequently observed (6.5% CI 2.2–10.8%) than externalizing disorders (1.2% CI 0.2–2.3%). In girls, prevalence estimates increased significantly with age; furthermore, living with a single parent, low level of maternal education, and low family income were associated with a higher likelihood of suffering from emotional or behavioral problems. Conclusions: Approximately one in ten adolescents has psychological problems. Teachers and clinicians should focus on boys and girls living with a single parent and/or in disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions

Adolescents with Mental Disorders: The Efficacy of a Multiprofessional Approach

“…The sample consisted of adolescents who had been attributed a diagnosis according to the ICD 10 of psychotic disorders in 25.4% of cases, personality disorders in 34.3% (20.9% of them as a single diagnosis, 13.4% with comorbidities), behavioral disorders in 11.9%, phobias, stress-related and somatoform disorders in 10.4%, mental retardation in 9.0% and affective syndromes in 9.0% (Table 1) No statistically significant differences emerged between males and females in relation to the diagnosis ICD 10 (χ 2 = 9.72, df = 6, p exact = n.s.). These data do not confirm the literature on psychopathology in developmental age, in which gender variables are reportedly highly significant; for instance, psychosis, somatization, depression and eating disorders all have a different, gender-related prevalence and incidence (Costello et al, 2006;Frigerio et al, 2009;Kessler & Wang, 2008). It is well known that problems of aggressive behavior, mental retardation and psychosis are more frequent in males, while eating disorders and internalizing disorders are more common among females.…”

COMT Val158Met polymorphism and socioeconomic status interact to predict attention deficit/hyperactivity problems in children aged 10–14

“…However, compared with the three independent samples in the Caspi et al study, it should be considered that we had a much smaller sample size, no interview-based direct assessment, and smaller prevalence of conduct problems [23]. Nonetheless, our findings of an association between SES 9 COMT genotype interaction and attention deficit/ hyperactivity problems, require cautious considerations.…”

“…The PrISMA project was designed to estimate the prevalence of behavioural problems using the CBCL/6-18 [2] scale in a National probability sample of children aged 10-14 years living and attending secondary school in 7 medium-to-large Italian urban areas (Milan, Rimini, Lecco and Conegliano located in the north of Italy, Rome and Pisa in the centre and Cagliari in the south of the country) and had an overall participation rate of 61% of the eligible subjects [22,23]. The mean values of the CBCL/6-18 subscales of children assessed in the PrISMA project did not differ significantly across these seven different urban areas (data available from authors upon request) and were comparable to those obtained in previous epidemiological studies of the CBCL scale in Italy [21].…”

Dysfunctional Behaviors in Children and Adolescents with Neurocardiogenic Syncope

“…The results of the questionnaires for the patients were compared with a normative population composed by healthy age-and gendermatched children and adolescents, recruited randomly from a sample selected in the schools in three provinces of Northern Italy [10].…”