Developmental, Learning, and Emotional Problems: Health of Our Nation's Children, United States, 1988

The data presented in this report show that developmental, learning, and behavioral disorders are among the most prevalent chronic conditions of childhood and adolescence. Overall, nearly 20 percent of young people ages 3-17 years were found to have had one or more of these conditions. By the time they reached ages 12-17 years, 1 in 4 adolescents, and nearly 3 in 10 male adolescents, had experienced one of these disorders. When very young children with developmental delays were included, the total number of U.S. children affected came to about 10.7 million. As high as these figures may seem, it is altogether possible that they are underestimates of the true prevalence of the conditions. The only childhood disorders counted in NHIS-CH were those that had been recognized by parents or identified by physicians, psychologists, or teachers and communicated to parents with sufficient clarity that the parents were able to report them to survey interviewers. There is reason to believe that some developmental, learning, and emotional disorders of children are not recognized as such, or the assessment of teachers or health professionals are not understood or not accepted by parents. Confusion over changing diagnostic terminology and simple forgetting of problems that occurred in the past probably work to reduce the reporting of these conditions as well. Despite the limitations of parental reporting, it is useful to have data on the prevalence of psychological disorders in young people based on standard survey questions put to the parents of a large and nationally representative sample of children. Estimates derived from NHIS-CH provide national benchmarks on the overall frequency of recognized psychological disorders in children and on the relative frequency of such problems in different population groups. The findings with regard to overall prevalence were that 4.0 percent of all children 17 years of age and under had delays in growth or development, 6.5 percent of children ages 3-17 years had learning disabilities, and 13.4 percent had significant emotional or behavioral problems. The proportions of all children ages 3-17 years who had ever received treatment or counseling for the conditions were about 2 percent for developmental delays, just over 5 percent for learning disabilities, and more than 10 percent for emotional or behavioral problems. These proportions fall within the range of prevalence estimates that have appeared in the literature.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)