Behavior Symptoms in Children and Degree of Sickness

Data have been presented to show that, in a sample of 91 school children and a sample of 35 clinic cases, a reliable, positive relationship exists between the number, frequency, duration, and severity of the symptoms reported by a child's mother and the degree of sickness found in the child. The relationship permits one to use the mother's report as a screening instrument with more success than with most medical screening techniques.