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Recent Undesirable Life Events and Psychiatric Disorder in Childhood and Adolescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ian Goodyer ,
Israel Kolvin  and
Sonia Gatzanis
Ian Goodyer*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Manchester Road, Swinton, M27 1HA
Israel Kolvin
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Sonia Gatzanis
Affiliation:
Nuffield Psychology and Psychiatry Unit, Fleming Memorial Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3AZ
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

A sample of children and adolescents (n = 157) attending a child psychiatry outpatient clinic with conduct or emotional disturbance were compared with community controls (n = 76) for the number and type of recent life events. A Life Events Schedule for children and adolescents was developed and used as a semi-structured interview. Four clinical groups were identified according to their predominant presenting symptoms (conduct, mild mood, severe mood, or somatic). An excess of events carrying a severe degree of negative impact was found for all four groups, compared with matched controls. Eleven classes of events were examined: there is a suggestion that two classes (marital/family, accident/illness) may be more important for conduct and mild mood disorders, and that a further class (permanent separations, termed exits) may be more important for somatic and severe mood disorders.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 147 , Issue 5 , November 1985 , pp. 517 - 523
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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