Children’s Development Problems in School Clinics in Brazil Have Been Changed Over the Decades?

Abstract

The Aim is to Identify By Inferential Statistic if there were Changes in Children’s Development Problems Reported in Outpatient Clinics in Brazil During the Last three Decades? Data was collected in three out-patient clinic´s protocols of 2155 children (from one to 12 years old) who were referred to psychotherapy the period from 1980 to 2009 in three outpatient clinics from Porto Alegre, RS. The CBCL Scale was used to identify the variable development problems. The results indicate that more girls were referred because of development problems of anxiety/depression (c² = 29,909; p < 0,001), and boys for attention problems (c² = 29,909; p < 0,001). The development problems: learning difficulties, challenging behavior and thought problems had similar frequencies between sexes during the three decades.