How Many Children Are at Risk for Mental Illness?

Understanding populations at risk for mental illness is important for both prevention and planning for necessary services. These researchers analyzed data from five waves of a large-scale, ongoing, Australia-wide study of child development and well-being (age range, 3 months–13 years; N=10,640) to estimate the prevalence of 26 factors known to heighten risk for adult mental illness.

The risk factors were sorted into nine domains — early psychological symptoms, neurological vulnerabilities, behavior disturbances, personality characteristics, poor school performance, childhood and family adversity, maltreatment, problematic parental relationships, and family disruptions. Analyses were performed in seven age groups (0–1 year through 12–13 years…