Mental Health: A Report by the Surgeon General

Provided by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Surgeon General of the United States of America

Chapter 3: Children and Mental Health

Overview of Mental Disorders in Children

Prevalence

ADHD, which is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder of childhood, occurs in 3 to 5 percent of school-age children in a 6-month period (Anderson et al., 1987; Bird et al., 1988; Esser et al., 1990; Pelham et al., 1992; Shaffer et al., 1996c; Wolraich et al., 1996). Pediatricians report that approximately 4 percent of their patients have ADHD (Wolraich et al., 1990), but in practice the diagnosis is often made in children who meet some, but not all, of the criteria recommended in DSM-IV (Wolraich et al., 1990) (see also Treatment later in this section). Boys are four times more likely to have the illness than girls are (Ross & Ross, 1982). The disorder is found in all cultures, although prevalences differ; differences are thought to stem more from differences in diagnostic criteria than from differences in presentation (DSM-IV).

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