Screening for psychiatric risk in a general population of children ages 4-11: Findings from the California Health Interview Survey

The Strengths and Development Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening tool used in the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) to estimate the prevalence of likely psychiatric disorders in the population of children ages 4-11. The SDQ has been validated with clinical instruments and in surveillance research. The short SDQ (6 questions) can be used to assign three levels of mental health development: normal, bordeline and abnormal. SDQ data from over 5,000 CHIS interviews with parents of children ages 4-11 were analyzed by demographic characteristics and measures of health care access and utilization, to better understand factors associated wtih at-risk development in the population.

CHIS is a biennial randon-digit-dial survey that began in 2001. Each sample has approximately 45,000 households. SDQ scores from CHIS 2007 data show that 90.7% of children ages 4-11 had normal development, 4.4% were borderline and 4.9% were abnormal. Males were significantly more likely than females to score in the abnormal category (6.2% vs. 3.6%), as were children in single parent households (8.4% vs. 3.9%). A higher proportion of children in households below 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL)scored in the abnormal category compared with children in households above 300% of FPL--6.8% vs. 3.3%. There were no racial/ethnic differences. Children in the abnormal category were more likely to have had an ER visit in the past 12 months, and to have delayed or not received prescriptions or other needed medical care, compared with children in the normal category.