Читать книгу Introduction to Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology - Robert Weis - Страница 48

The prevalence of mental disorders varies with age. On average, adolescents are more likely than younger children to experience mental health problems. The best data that we have regarding the prevalence of mental health problems in adolescents comes from the results of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication–Adolescent Supplement (Kessler et al., 2012a). The researchers who conducted this study interviewed a nationally representative sample of more than 10,000 adolescents ages 13 to 17. They also administered rating scales to parents to gather additional data on adolescents’ functioning. Results showed that 23.4% of adolescents reported a mental health problem in the past month and 40.3% reported a mental health problem in the previous year. Although most of the problems experienced by adolescents were mild to moderate in severity, the overall prevalence of problems was much higher than in previous studies involving younger children (Kessler et al., 2012b).

The National Comorbidity Survey study also allows us to compare the prevalence of specific disorders across childhood and adolescence (Figure 1.2). Certain disorders are more common among younger children: autism, separation anxiety, and ADHD. However, the prevalence of most disorders increases with age. For example, adolescents are much more likely to experience problems with social phobia, depression, bipolar disorders, and eating disorders than prepubescent children. Problems with alcohol and other drug use also typically emerge in adolescence and are relatively rare among prepubescent children (Merikangas & He, 2014).

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Figure 1.2 ■ The Prevalence of Childhood Disorders Varies by Age

Note: In general, adolescents are more likely to experience disorders than younger children. However, some disorders, like autism and separation anxiety disorder, are more common among younger children (Kessler et al., 2012a; Perou et al., 2016).