La relación entre factores de riesgo para la salud mental y psicopatología en la niñez

Abstract

Research indicates that children exposed to three or more risk factors for mental health show a high prevalence of mental disorders. In this field of study two samples of children between 6 to 8 years are compared, a risk sample and a control one (N=50). While none of the children in the control sample showed a level of clinical indicators associated to a psychopathology, 64% of risk children did. In like manner, it was found that the incidence of the clinical level increased significantly together with the amount of risk factors. In order to select the two samples the List of Risk Factors was used and the incidence of indicators associated to psychopathology was measured with the Children Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ). The results support the theoretically stated ideas about the vulnerability of a child before failures in the environment when these accumulated.