Am J Psychiatry 1984; 141:1397-1402
Copyright © 1984 by American Psychiatric Association
Depression and depressive-like states in preschool-age children in a child development unit
JH Kashani, JS Ray and GA Carlson
A sample of 100 preschool-age children referred to a child development unit
were evaluated using DSM-III criteria for symptoms of depression. Only four
children (4%) received a diagnosis of possible or definite depression; one
of the four children definitely had major depressive disorder. That
prevalence rate is much lower than that reported for older children. The
findings suggest either that major depressive disorder is rare among
preschoolers or that DSM-III criteria are not suitable for diagnosing
affective disorders among preschoolers.
